Kogane no ōji
by gottahavekyuubi
Summary: In a world where Kage's are like kings and Jinchuriki are princes and princesses, betrayal, secrets, secret love, and most of all; Vengeance will flourish. The Elemental Nations aren't ready for this. NarutoxKurotsuchi AU Very Dark Fanfic
1. Of Princes and Princesses

**So this is a new idea that I've had going about in my head for quite sometime. Inspired by 'At a Crossroads' by DarkFox2. So just a heads up:**

**1) Kushina will have two sets of twins: Naruto and Kaede(OC)- these two are jinchuriki, then Mito and Arashi- not so important until later**

**2) Uchiha arent assholes. Uchiha Madara never left. He is in fact, a swell guy**

**3)Jinchuriki arent treated like shit, but instead as royalty, because they are**

**Disclaimer: fuafioewoijpodsafew I don't own Naruto :(**

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**Chapter 1: Of Princes and Princesses**

The night was calm with a small breeze blowing through the young, twenty year old, boy's hair. He was lying in the grass naked with a young, also twenty year old, black haired girl in his arms. Her dull-pink eyes stared lovingly into his violet orbs. She kissed his cheeks softly before laying her head down onto his bare and sweaty chest. The battle scars from the war evident on both of their bodies, but neither seemed to care.

An orange Konoha jounin flak jacket with green border with an orange and gold breast-plate lay over on the side next to a brown Iwagakure jounin flak jacket with a black breast-plate lying on top. Two katana's were stabbed into the ground with their blades crossing over each other. On the ground in front of the two weapons were two different hitai-ate; one with a leaf symbol and the other had two rocks etched into the metal plate.

Naruto took a deep breath before opening his eyes once more to stare at the giant moon above the two. Its bright white light bathed the secret lovers in its ethereal glow. Not much could be said, beside the fact that she was supposed to be his arch nemesis. She was known as The Lava Princess by her enemies. Her name is Kurotsuchi. The princess of Iwagakure.

Naruto sighed. He glared at the moon above him and the stars that glinted in the deep black sky of the night. He tightened his grip around the beautiful and curvaceous girl in his arms. She snuggled deeper into his body and sighed in bliss before drifting off back to sleep. To see her so calm and snug, made Naruto's heart beat faster. To see her smile made his mind hazy.

'Why can't I live my life with her…?' Naruto cursed. 'Kami…why can't I love her the way I want to? Why did we have to be enemies…?'

_-Backwards time-skip start- twenty and a half years ago…Konohagakure no Sato_

"Minato! Get the seal ready and hold the Kyuubi back for now." Jiraiya ordered to his son. "We have to make sure there are no complications with the birth of your children."

"Hai, Tou-san!" Minato sped through hand seals and placed his hands onto the belly of his wife Kushina. She gave a weak smile to her husband and grabbed a hold of her best friend, Mikoto's sleeve. With the friendship between the Senju and Uchiha stronger than metal, the Uchiha made sure to keep the Hokage's children's birth safe. Uchiha guards and clansmen stood outside of the hospital and on the roof to make sure the Royal family were safe.

The Current Hokage, Tsunade Senju, the mother of Minato, was working on making sure Kushina wouldn't have any issues, along with the Kyuubi trying to make sure his container wouldn't die from the strain. Tsunade wiped the sweat from her brow and continued to examine the pregnant woman as she continued to push out the twins.

"Come on Kushi-chan! You're almost there!" Mikoto smiled as she tightened her hold on Kushina's hand. "Just another push and the first one will be out."

"Come on!" Minato strained.

From five different points around the operating table sat five men, three Senju sealing specialists, Jiraiya and Minato. They each held up a different hand seal with an aura of chakra surrounding their bodies. The amount of power being pumped into the sealing. Minato struggled to keep his chakra flow constant, despite the fact that he himself had large chakra reservoirs.

Suddenly, the sound of a crying baby sounded in everyone's ears. The sealers shut off their chakra flow and ran up to see Tsunade and Mikoto holding two babies. One had golden blond hair with vibrant violet eyes with six whisker mars, while the other had red hair with bright cerulean eyes like her father. Tsunade and Mikoto showed Kushina her new children and smiled happily.

"Naruto…" Kushina named the blond. "Kaede…" She named the redhead. Mikoto held Kaede out and let Kushina take her daughter and Tsunade lightly placed Naruto into the redhead's arms. Kushina smiled in bliss as she held her two children in her arms as tightly as possible. Her smile never left her face.

"They're so adorable…" Tsunade smiled. "Now…let's let her have her rest. We'll speak about the Kyuubi on a later date."

_In Kushina's mindscape._

The most beautiful redhead of Konoha walked calmly through her mindscape with little care and came across a large house in the middle of a forest. Kushina shook her head when she smelled the smoke coming from the chimney. She opened the door and found a giant fox in a large robe over pajamas sitting in a recliner chair. He had a pipe in his mouth with a pair of spectacles to help him read whatever book he was reading.

_Icha Icha Paradise: A 'Ride' in Heaven_

"What the fuck are you doing reading that hideous smut?!" Kushina screamed in anger, terrifying the great fox from his read, causing him to throw the book from his hands and spit his pipe from his lips. The great fox blushed slightly and looked nervous.

"I don't know what you're talking about Kushina!" The Kyuubi laughed slightly at his little sister figure.

"I don't know what you mean by smut? Is that a new word-?"

"Doesn't matter." Kushina laughed while still retaining her deadpanned expression. "Down to business. What are we going to do about you Kurama?"

"You had twins right?" The fox asked as he sat back down into his recliner chair.

"Yes." Kushina said. "Do you have a plan?"

"I do indeed." Kurama smiled slightly. "It will empower both of them."

"What is it?"

"I want Minato to split my chakra in half. My yang chakra will go to Naruto and my yin will go to Kaede." Kurama said before laying his head down on the chair. "That's their names right?"

"Yes it is." Kushina smiled. "I like this plan. When do you want it to happen?"

"Whenever you're ready." Kurama replied. "Just as long as I get to take my normal nap."

"You're a lazy fox. You know that don't you?" Kushina asked with a small laugh.

"Whatever you say Kushi-chan." Kurama yawned and cut off their connection. Kushina awoke in her hospital bed with her two new-born babies in cribs next to her own bed.

_-Thousands of miles to the north-west…_

Through the many rocks crevices and mountain ranges, the deep ravines and rock rain, there was a village hidden by the rocks and mountains that surrounded it. Its people were strong willed just like the immoveable rocks that they build their homes in. The people were celebrating the birth of life. The greatest gift from the kami's above, especially since the ruling family of the village was dying out.

Kitsuchi Yamauchi of the Yamauchi dynasty of Iwagakure, the current Tsuchikage, raised his newest child before the people. Born just hours before the dawn of October 6th, she was named Kurotsuchi, Black Soil. Next to Kitsuchi, in his wife's arms was Han, their two year old son. The people praised the birth of a new child, and immediately showered the family with gifts and prayers for the new child.

Within a few days of the child being born, she already had powerful chakra residing within her. Kitsuchi had the baby tested for special chakra and indeed she did have special chakra. She had received a mutation of Jinton (Dust Release) and received the Youton (Lava Release), kekkei genkai. Kitsuchi himself was a receiver of Bakuton, or Explosion release. But he had a strange feeling that his daughter was going to be able to do more than just that.

He shook his head from the thoughts and immediately turned from the people and headed back into the Tsuchikage palace. The walls of the palace itself were carved from the mountain itself. Once they entered the courtyard of the castle, there was a large garden, despite being in the most improper place to grow plants. Trees and flowers of varying rarity. From rare to almost nonexistent.

At the front gates of the walls, there were infantry with ashigaru helmets with the kanji for 'earth' on their helmets. In their hands they held naginata's and had katana's strapped to their sides. When the royal Kage family walked by, the guards tensed up and stood in parade dress. Kitsuchi nodded his head and walked straight into the main hall.

The walls were adorned with traditional paintings and racks filled with weapons. There were multiple halls that lead through to the different parts of the castle. Each one filled with servants, guards or his jounin commanders. He turned to his wife and handed her his daughter and walked off towards the more secluded part of the mountain palace.

After a few minutes of trekking and swiveling through the different halls and rooms, he came across a massive vault that had twenty guards standing in the front. Ten explosion release shinobi and ten Lava release shinobi. They stood guard and made sure that no one could come anywhere near the vault. But once they saw their Tsuchikage, they all parted and motioned for the seals on the gate to be undone.

"**Is it time already?**"A deep and foreboding voice sounded from within the darkness. "**I was just started to enjoy my nap.**"

"**Oh shut up. Anything will be better than this.**" Another voice said from the darkness, though not as malicious and with a faint feminine tone.

Kitsuchi shrugged off the killing intent and pure unkempt power and walked into the vault. Once inside, the darkness soon cleared out and the colors began to flow into his eyes. Standing in front of him was a massive five-tailed dolphin horse and an eight tailed wolf. The only two bijuu that Iwa managed to find and make deals with.

"My daughter has been born and is ready for sealing." Kitsuchi said. "My son is more than ready, so I believe that it is time for us to make our strike against those, tree-hugging, Konoha-scum."

"**Indeed Kitsuchi-kun…**" The Eight-tailed wolf smiled slightly.** "But...we should wait a few years until** **then..."**

_-Time-skip…sixteen years later…Konohagakure no Sato…_

Sixteen years since the birth of Naruto and Kaede, Kushina and Jiraiya had been training the two in the arts of controlling their bijuu's powers. Even though the two halves of Kurama willingly gave their chakra to the two containers, the fox's power was still too much for the two children to handle. So for a majority of their life, they were subjugated to rigorous training in the shinobi arts, proper etiquette, and educated by the highest level of educators.

Naruto took more to being a Shinobi that being the proper prince that everyone wanted him to be. He was a powerhouse with nearly infinite chakra reserves. Too bad he couldn't control it yet. He grew his hair out like his father had and had two long bangs framing his face. His skin was pale like his mothers and his eyes were dark and violet like his mothers, but his face was his fathers and his hair was his fathers. He was quite tall for his age group standing at 5'10"; he was muscular and had a strong build despite his age.

At the young age of twelve, Naruto had already mastered the Rasengan and was working on making an elemental version of it. He not only did that, but he mastered a massive arsenal of wind and lightning jutsu, with his favorite wind technique being the 'Fuuton: Dai Renkuudan (Wind Release: Great Drilling Air Bullet)' and seemed to have mastered the hiraishin. He also took on kenjutsu just like his mother and was already at master level, thanks to the training regimen that Minato's personal ANBU trainers put the young prince through.

When the ANBU found out about his elements, they were surprised at the fact that the two elements he had control over canceled each other out. It was not only a rarity, but also almost impossible to happen. No, it is impossible to happen, but somehow, Naruto was able to do it.

Throughout his training and combat prowess, he became almost as fast as his old man himself. Because of this, he was called the Kogane no ōji, or, the Golden Prince. He studied, despite being like his mother; he managed to make it through all of the royalty lifestyle and history of the Senju. He was taught to respect his elders and respect the Uchiha.

Through all of this, Naruto wasn't alone. He always had his twin sister Kaede at his side. While she was a very talented Kunoichi, she took to being a princess more than being a trained killer, even thought she was really good at it. She preferred to be a fuinjutsu specialist if anything. She, like the true Uzumaki she was, felt a natural pull towards the art of seals. She made her first fully functioning trapping seal when she was only five years old.

Even though she wasn't one to actually hurt another human, she was a master with fire and

She was also a gifted sensory shinobi that can sense anyone within a mile radius. Though she was slow compared to her twin, she packed a punch like her mother and grandmother. With her near perfect chakra control thanks to being trained as a medic and sensory type, she gained recognition as a support type powerhouse. She had also taken up Kenjutsu but not for the same reasons as Naruto.

She took up kenjutsu for one reason. Uchiha Sasuke.

The Uchiha was a very powerful and tough boy. He and Naruto had also gained a close bond that has the same effect of brotherhood. Kaede met Sasuke and the two immediately became friends. Sasuke, being an Uchiha prodigy-child like his elder brother was, he had unlocked the fully matured three tomoed sharingan by the age of seven. He was also smart about what he did, and he was slightly conceited.

Not only that, but he had a natural talent for kenjutsu and fire techniques. He was quick on his feet, though not as fast as Naruto was. Sasuke was so graceful with his movements that he was able to impress Kaede, who made a name for herself being the next Ice Queen. The Uchiha had a natural talent for using whatever weapon you gave him, be it a bow and arrow, or just the bow, he'd be able to take down an entire unit of experienced shinobi and infantry.

Sasuke, even though he normally didn't show it, he did feel a small crush on Naruto's sister. She liked to eat, she could hold her own in battle and she was gorgeous. Sasuke thought to himself. 'What's not to like…' He just didn't say anything about it because he was trying to keep impressing the Hokage and his wife. As it was, Sasuke was poised to be arranged to marry the princess to strengthen the ties between the Uchiha and Senju, while Naruto was already engaged to Yamanaka Ino, since they were children.

_-Elsewhere in Iwagakure no Sato…_

Kitsuchi used the past sixteen years for meticulous planning and preparation for the coming war between his nation and Minato's. Kitsuchi narrowed his eyes at the war table in front of him. Already many of his pieces were in place, but he was delayed. He needed more time, which was something that he didn't have the luxury of.

Already his daughter was learning the secrets of Jinton and mastering her Youton from his father and he himself was teaching her Bakuton. She was by far the most powerful kunoichi of the five villages of Iwa. She showed extreme skill in kenjutsu and had defeated her first enemy division when she was only seven years old during a war with a neighboring nation.

She was also getting quite beautiful, taking on the beautiful looks of her mother, with the strength and power of her father. She had the eyes of her mother; dull-pink eyes that held so much emotion and smugness in her attitude. She had a quick tongue and a quicker fist. She was highly proficient in taijutsu and her kekkei genkai and kekkei tōta. As the time for war came closer and closer, Kitsuchi became more and more worried that his daughter would get distracted and loose her touch, especially if the rumors of this Kogane no ōji were true.

His daughter was sixteen and was at that dangerous age when hormones start messing with teenagers heads and cause them to lose their combat effectiveness. The Yamauchi name was on the line this time. He couldn't afford to have his daughter fail to keep the enemies of Iwa at bay, let alone, fall for her enemies.

Kitsuchi then thought back towards his son's abilities and smiled slightly, before letting it falter. Han was indeed a powerful boy and a giant one at that, but he relied on the power of his bijuu too much. The bijuu itself started to mess with the boy's head and made Han go on rampages at random intervals year-round. Han though, had somehow received Jōton (Steam Release), and used his steam to aid his special taijutsu style.

The secret to the two children's powers and strengths was the two bijuu sealed within them. Han had the five-tailed dolphin-horse, Kokuō, while Kurotsuchi held the great eight-tailed wolf, Kuyoko. The two jinchuriki were masters of their bijuu and used their powers to their fullest extent whenever in combat. At least Kurotsuchi knew what to do.

Kitsuchi took a deep breath and sighed in exasperation. He had read over a proposition by the Kamizuru clan to wed Kurotsuchi to his youngest son, Jibachi. The man sighed and scratched his brow in frustration. It seems that it would be the best way to get the Kamizuru clan on his side for the coming war.

'It can't be helped…I know she'll understand.' Kitsuchi signed the proposition. 'The village comes before personal gain.'

"Akiyama!" Kitsuchi shouted.

A man dressed in the jounin outfit of Iwa, burst through the door and bowed to his Kage. Kitsuchi handed the shinobi the scroll and had the shinobi take off from the office.

"Everything is going to plan!" Kitsuchi smiled brightly. "Now the Yamauchi will finally rise to the top and defeat the Senju of Konoha…"

_A few months later…_

"Naruto-nii…" Kaede asked.

"Naruto-nii?" Kaede asked once more.

"NARUTO-NII!" Kaede screamed in the golden haired boy's face, scaring him from his thoughts.

"What is it Kaede-chan?" Naruto asked as he looked up from his position on the ground next to his sister.

The Namikaze twins sat on a large hill with a single tree standing at the crest of the hill overlooking a large park that Kaede happened to love so much. This tree was where Naruto had asked Ino to marry him. this was the tree that had the three young adults coming to over and over again, to help make it grow, and good thing too. It had a beautiful view of the six villages, in all directions, they had a perfect three hundred and sixty degree view of the splendor that Konoha and her six villages could offer.

"Naruto-kun…how do you feel about our marriage?" Ino asked with a small smile. A small blush formed on her cheeks as she locked her arm with his. The two have been dating for the past six years. They found out about their secret engagement on their third year of their relationship. To find out that they were getting married in the future was enough to make the two ecstatic. "Are you excited?"

"Of course I am!" Naruto smiled brightly. He leaned down and planted a small kiss on his girlfriend's forehead and leaned back down into the soft grass below him. "How can I not be?"

"Naruto…how do you feel about me and Kaede?" Sasuke asked.

"What about it?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you…well approve?" Kaede asked.

"I approve Sasuke. Just don't screw up, cause, Kaede…well she hits harder than I do." Naruto took a moment to laugh at Sasuke's expression. Soon enough, the rest of the children present burst into laughter.

"Naruto-sama, Kaede-sama!" An exasperated shout was heard coming up the hill. "Hokage-sama and Kushina-sama need you two in the palace as fast as possible."

"Understood."

-_At the Hokage palace…_

"What is it father?" Kaede asked.

"We are gearing for war…" Minato said calmly. "Iwa is becoming extremely militant."

"Naruto, Kaede. It's good to see you two." A voice sounded from behind. Both heads turned and smiled at the man behind them.

"Ero-jiji!" The two ran up to the old man and embraced him in a tight hug. Jiraiya had a blank expression on his face when he realized the nickname that they just gave him.

For the past nine years, they've been calling the old sannin that nickname, and everyone seems to love it, except for Jiraiya. The name seemed extremely fitting for the old man. After the hugs were over, they backed away and let the old man walk over next to the throne of Minato.

"So…Ero-jiji…how is Iwa getting militant?" Naruto asked.

"They are tearing through Taki no Kuni and Kawa no Kuni without any care." Jiraiya said. "Not only that, but they are getting dangerously close to our interests."

"Who are their V.I.S's (Very Important Shinobi)?" Kaede asked.

"They call them the Lava Princess and the Steam Prince." Jiraiya said. "They are both jinchuriki of two different bijuu; the Eight-tailed Wolf, and the five-tailed dolphin horse."

"W-What?" Kaede went pale. "They must be a part of the royal family of Iwa!"

"They are." Minato said. "Yamauchi Kurotsuchi a.k.a the Lava Princess is the youngest daughter of Yamauchi Kitsuchi. Yamauchi Han a.k.a the Steam Prince is the eldest son of Kitsuchi. The two of them are extremely powerful. Here." Minato tossed his two children a bingo book.

Naruto opened the bingo book and turned to the Lava Princess.

_Yamauchi Kurotsuchi_

_Height: 5'3"_

_Hair color: Black_

_Eye Color: Dull Pink_

_Appearance: Wears the maroon kimono of Iwa underneath a brown Iwa flak jacket and wears a black breast-plate of armor over the vest. Wears short-shorts with fishnet leggings and black shin-guards._

_Rank: SS classed_

_Info: Knows Jinton techniques, highly proficient in Youton techniques and is learning Bakuton. She is a master with her tanto knife. She likes to toy with her opponents and doesn't take her enemies seriously._

_Run on sight. Do not engage. For ANBU leveled shinobi or higher. She will kill with no remorse._

Naruto continued to stare at her picture. She looked beautiful with her heart-shaped jawline and her pinkish eyes. She had a cocky smirk on her face. It looked like the same kind of smile that Naruto would have when he'd take down a team of ANBU in training. He looked over the picture and realized that she was hot. He looked up to see his father with a disapproving look.

"Naruto. She is the enemy. I know that she's beautiful, but you must steel your resolve. Make sure that you don't fall for whatever lies or seductions that she might have planned out for you my son." Minato said sagely. "You and your sister will move into Taki no Kuni and help them in their fight against Iwa, but do it secretly and wear masks. I don't want Iwa getting an idea of what we're doing. For this mission, you two are officially promoted to Jounin rank. Be careful and be safe. And don't use Kurama's power."

"Understood father." Naruto and Kaede both bowed and left the throne room leaving Jiraiya and Minato alone.

"Do you think the two of them can do it?" Jiraiya asked.

"I don't know." Minato sighed. "I just hope that his hiraishin is better than mine."

_-In the Taki no Kuni…_

**"****Youton: Youdangan no jutsu!" **A feminine shout resounded through the air, scaring a few Taki shinobi. Just before they could escape, the fast flying bullets shot through the air and bored holes into their bodies.

"Flank them from the right! My brother and I will handle these guys!" Kurotsuchi commanded.

There was a slight rumble and a gargantuan boy with a massive hat and armor with a furnace on his back, rose from beneath the ground and held up his fists. His pinkish eyes were emotionless as he examined his enemies. The duo charged forward with eight tails swinging behind Kurotsuchi and five tails, each tail with elements coming off the tips, behind Han. But before the two jinchuriki could meet their mark, two flashes were made and two people flashed into the fight and kicked the two Iwa shinobi back.

One wore a gold-orange breastplate over a black undershirt with a mask covering his upper face. They couldn't even see his eyes. The only facial features that they were able to make out were the whisker marks on his cheeks and his bright golden hair. On his neck guards were six magatama pendants jingling off the edge. He smiled at Kurotsuchi with a small foxy smirk before charging at the eight-tailed jinchuriki.

Kuro sent a punch, but the masked shinobi dodged at the last second and sent a side hook to her abdomen, knocking her over on her side. She stumbled slightly when she hit the ground. She quickly spun around with a handful of shuriken and kunai and hurled them at the shinobi, but the other masked attacker came and deflected the projectiles with her katana.

The masked kunoichi kicked Kuro back and caused her to land in her brother's arms. Han growled at the two masked newcomers. Steam started flowing from the furnace on his back. He furrowed his brows as the steam gained a thicker volume as his bijuu's chakra began to meld with the steam.

The masked kunoichi wore a black version of the white upper half-mask of the golden haired shinobi. She herself was a redhead with whisker marks on her cheeks. The thing that made Kurotsuchi jealous though, was the size of her chest; it was quite impressive, despite being only sixteen. Her orange-red breastplate only seemed to glint in the sun's rays cutting through the leaves of the forest canopy.

"Who are you?" Kurotsuchi asked with narrowed eyes. Her bijuu's chakra began to flow from her body and began to form a super-heated chakra aura around her. "And why did you interfere?!"

"That is none of your business." The masked shinobi replied. He drew out his katana and pointed it at Kuro. "Imōto…the black haired one is mine."

"As you wish Nii-san." The redheaded kunoichi replied as she zoomed off with her own sword drawn.

The redhead charged off towards Han at speeds that were hard for him to catch up to, but they weren't entirely fast. Just as the kunoichi was about to hit Han, a blast of lava sent her back, but didn't seem to affect her.

"Your opponent is me!" The golden haired shinobi shouted as he swung for Kuro's neck.

She bent back and spun on one foot and swiveled around the Golden haired boy's attack. Kurotsuchi then focused chakra into her fist and punched the armored shinobi, but it had no effect. The masked man kicked her back and sent her into the forest. Naruto popped his next and shunshined to her position.

Once he found her, she was pushing herself out of a dented tree. Once free, she glared intently at the golden haired boy. She quickly sped through hand seals.

**"****Youton: Youdangan no jutsu!" **She shouted as a barrage of super-fast lava bullets shot from her mouth and headed straight for the masked shinobi.

He made a few backflips and landed on the branch of a high tree. After speeding through similar hand seals he shot his hand to his mouth.

**"****Suiton: Suidangan no jutsu!"** He shot off a perfect amount of bullets from his mouth, and each projectile collided with her own and they both canceled each other's attacks.

Kurotsuchi gathered chakra to her feet and dashed towards Naruto, slightly freaking him out with her speed. She saw the opening and took it. Lava built up in her fist as she hurled the right hook into his abdomen. The burning sensation seared into his body and sent him flying back into a few trees.

The black haired Iwa Princess back flipped off the branch and landed with quiet grace. She patted her legs down softly and kept her cocky smirk on her face.

_Clink!_

"You know…pride is a weakness." Naruto whispered in her ear. "That over there…was a Kage Bunshin. Nice try but…even you must have known that it was too easy."

Kurotsuchi tailed her eyes down to see a kunai held at her throat. She took a calm breath and shut her eyes to think.

'Solar Plexus!'

The girl elbowed Naruto in the chest and sent him back, causing him to lose his grip on her body.

'Instep!'

She raised her foot and brought it down on his not-so-protected right foot. The boy hunched over slightly to feel his aching foot.

'Nose!'

As Naruto came down, she sent her palm up and smashed it across his face, breaking his nose and crushing his mask in the process.

'GROIN!'

As the shinobi fell back, she reeled her foot back and hurled it towards his unprotected groin. Once the hit connected, Naruto let out a girlish scream and fell to the ground rolling around in pain as tears poured from his eyes. His right hand covering his groin and his left holding his broken nose.

"FUCK!" Naruto howled in pain. "I WAS TRYING TO BE NICE, BUT FUCK!"

His poor voice was now a few octaves higher than normal. Kurotsuchi smirked and kicked the boy over and looked at his face. Vibrant purple eyes glared viciously at the kunoichi. It seemed to entrance the young Princess. But then she realized who it was.

"It's the Golden Prince of Konoha!" Kurotsuchi's eyes went wide as her brows furrowed deeper. "You bastard!"

She raised her sword and stabbed it through Naruto's heart. The boy gurgled in pain as blood began to flow from his mouth and out of the massive wound in his chest. Kurotsuchi tore the blade from his chest and spat on the ground. She looked at his dead body with a never ending glare.

'I can't believe that Konoha would send these worthless minions to fight us!' Kurotsuchi growled. 'Who the hell do they think we are?'

"I'm no minion as you can see." Kurotsuchi's eyes went wide.

"I just…killed you!" Naruto smiled as he jumped down a tree and landed just a few feet away from Kurotsuchi.

"It'll take more than just a simple katana going through my heart to stop me." Naruto said with a cocky tone. "You're way out of my league, Yougan-hime."

"Well then, Kogane-ōji…why don't I show you my true league!" Four Kurotsuchi's jumped from her body and charged at Naruto.

Four kage bunshin popped into existence and battled with her clones. But the special thing about these clones was that they were a trade secret from Iwa's explosion division. It was one their most powerful weapons, that weren't a part of their kinjutsu.

** '****Bakuton: Baku Bunshin no jutsu!'** The clones suddenly exploded, sending the Kogane no ōji through the trees and into a large clearing. Naruto glared as he cleaned the dirt and dust off of his armor.

"That was a clever trick, Yougan-hime" Naruto drawled. "But you'll have to do better than that."

Naruto snapped his fingers.

'Why'd he do that-?'

Suddenly, a large series of explosions shook the entire forest, tearing the landscape apart, sending earth, debris and Kurotsuchi high into the sky. She landed a few meters off the ground thanks to the flying jutsu that she learned from her grandfather. She looked from her viewpoint in the sky to see that almost the entire forest was torn apart by the Kogane-ōji.

'Unbelievable…' She panted. 'I almost died from that…he had this all planned out didn't he…'

"Try this on for size bastard!" Kurotsuchi held her hands together and focused her chakra together and once she opened her hands, a small three-dimensional cone formed in her palms. **"****Jinton: Hakuri no jutsu!"**

The cone expanded and shot for the Golden Prince. He only smiled and drew out a three-pronged hiraishin kunai. The knife floated for a while, as the blond sped through some quick hand seals. Just as he finished, he grabbed the kunai and held open his palms.

Right before Kurotsuchi's attack could hit its mark, the attack was sucked into a massive portal as seal matrixes spread around the attack and disappeared altogether. Kuro panted slightly in anger and floated down to meet Naruto face to face. The two glared each other eye to eye before taking off with amazing speed in both of their legs.

Naruto of course, made it to her first and appeared at her side with his fist ready. He sent the punch, but Kurotsuchi evaded the attack at the right moment, just before the fist could hit its mark. Kurotsuchi smirked at her plan, but she didn't take into consideration Naruto's foot coming her way.

The blond's kick connected and sent her stumbling. He pushed off the ground and sent a high kick, knocking her ear partially ringing. She blocked his next attack and punched him in the chest, but the attack only bounce off of his golden armor and ended up hurting her instead. She resorted to an underhand tactic taught by her uncle.

She brought her head back and grabbed Naruto's arms and rammed her head into his own head, and sent him flying into the ground. But before he could hit the ground, he wrapped his legs around her waist and twisted his body slightly, sending her over to the ground with him. They were entangled with each other in a tight submissive fight. Naruto had one of her arms in a dead-lock with Kurotsuchi cutting off circulation to one of his legs.

A clone popped into existence a few feet away from the two and charged to help Naruto, while a clone jumped from Kuro's body and ran to help her. But before the clones could do what they were told to do, they attacked each other instead and started engaging in a really amazing fight of taijutsu, with neither clone winning.

**"****Bunshin Daibakuha!" ** Naruto shouted.

**"****Baku Bunshin no jutsu!"** Kurotsuchi called.

The two clones exploded in a massive blast, untangling the two shinobi from one another, sending them both into trees. Naruto was the first to recover since his armor can take any form of physical damage, be it chakra or weapon based. He dusted off his shoulders and charged through the smoke only to get a punch to the face.

"Come on! Is that it?!" Just before Kurotsuchi could hit him, her temporal lobe got bashed by Naruto's right elbow, sending her stumbling with a slight head ache. Naruto turned and saw her faint shadow and started sending the punches to her body.

One punch hit her cheek, cracking her jaw slightly. Naruto then sent a leg sweep and floored her into the grass. She rolled away though, right before the Kogane-ōji could connect his axe kick. She pushed herself off the grassy clearing and sent a power-punch to Naruto and dented his armor, to both of their surprise.

Naruto sent a quick drop kick to Kurotsuchi, but she evaded and grabbed his leg instead and hurled him out of the smoke cloud and into the open. Once the smoke cleared it came to reveal two more masked shinobi. One had a chokutō katana with lightning pulsating off the blade while the other had long blonde hair with a blade made pure water.

Kurotsuchi smirked slightly before sheathing her kunai. She gave the two newcomers a small smirk and shrugged.

"It was fun fighting you Kogane no ōji." Kurotsuchi smiled sweetly. "I hope we meet again."

"Next time, I won't hold back." Naruto replied with the same tone.

"Ja ne, Kakkōii!" Kurotsuchi vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving a snickering Sasuke, a dumbfounded Naruto and a seething Ino.

Suddenly Kaede entered the battlefield with a confused look on her face. She walked up to her twin and sheathed her katana.

"Han just ran off…I was just about to beat him too." Kaede whined. "So…how was your fight Nii-san?"

"I'll tell you back home." Naruto laughed. 'I just hope that the hiraishin seal really doesn't disappear…I just have to see her again…'

-_In a faraway distance in the trees…_

_Dear Yamauchi Kurotsuchi…_

_ I wrote this during out fight. I needed you to know something; I had fun fighting you, and I know that you did too, but you and I know that we won't be able to go all out if our forces were nearby…that's why I want to fight you again. No killing; no death; just me versus you, with all of our powers at our disposal. Whaddya say?_

_ Meet back at the place we fought today at midnight. No later and no sooner._

_From,_

_ Namikaze Naruto, Kogane-no-ōji_

Kurotsuchi crumpled the letter and set in on fire using just her chakra within her balled up fist. Her eyebrows furrowed.

'The Prince wants a rematch, then I'll give him a rematch.'

_-Later on that night…_

Indeed at the stroke of midnight, a bright golden flash appeared and Naruto stood in its place. He stared at the cloud of white smoke as Kurotsuchi's body began to show itself through the smoke. She popped her neck and glared at the Konoha shinobi. She started jumping on the heels of her feet as the tension build up between the two of them.

Naruto smirked as nine bright red tails shot from behind him and started spiraling in a way to signify that he feels threatened. He threw a three-pronged kunai at the girl and vanished, only to reappear right behind her and send a kick to her back. She used a kawarimi just before his attack hit.

He landed on the ground and formed a kage bunshin to take the hit for him, as Kurotsuchi rose from the ground with her hands out ready to grab his legs and pull him in for the earth suicide technique that Kakashi used on him a great many a time. With the shadow clone grabbed instead, Naruto was able to jump back and force a rasengan into the ground.

And like a popped blackhead, she shot from the ground, leaving her wide and open. Naruto dashed ahead and punched her abdomen and sent her into another clone, but, she quickly turned and sent her foot into the clone's face. Once the clone was sent back, she spun around and sped through hand seals.

**"Youton: Youdangan no jutsu!" **She shot off twenty bullets from her mouth, each one hitting a clone or nearly hitting the original Naruto. She jumped to the side when Naruto finished his hand seal pattern.

** "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" **He took a deep breath and shot off a massive gust of air towards the girl but she got smart and sped through her own hand seals.

**"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!"** She sent the fire ball towards the wind user, but he channeled lightning chakra all over his body, and used the electrical volts to cut through the incoming blaze, but he managed to make it out of the attack radius.

**"Youton: Yougan numa no jutsu!"** Kurotsuchi clapped her hands together into the snake hand seal. "I've got you in my trap now!" The blond began to sink into the lava, inch by inch. Kurotsuchi though, felt a small pang on her heart as she looked at the talented prince give her small nod.

"Again…it'll take more than that to beat me." Naruto's voice sounded from behind. Kurotsuchi jumped in surprise and drew out her katana and clashed the blade with his own.

She raised her blade and brought it down for a quick attack at his weaker side, but he was able to clash his blade with hers and parry the attack, leaving Kurotsuchi open in the front. She let Naruto stab forward, but once he did, she dodged the attack and grabbed the blade of his katana and used all of her strength to grab ahold of the weapon and fling it from his hands.

Naruto backed away and sped through hand signs. Kurotsuchi saw this and backed away a few feet, not noticing the three kage bunshin making their way around her flanks. Once she finished her seals, she brought her hand to her lips.

**"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!"** Kurotsuchi shouted out.

**"Suiton: Dai Mizu Bakufu!" **Naruto shouted just as Kurotsuchi finished her call.

The two attacks collided and caused a massive explosion of steam to cover up the entire battle field. Kurotsuchi smirked and sped through a different set of hand seals. Since her elder brother was known as the Steam Prince, he taught the young Princess a few steam techniques.

**"Jōton:-"**

Just before she can finish her jutsu, two clones burst through the steam and one punched her cheek, while another sent a swipe kick, completely throwing her off her game. But she couldn't get herself into position again. Once the clones dispersed after hitting the young girl, another clone charged from behind with golden light flowing off of his super-fast moving body, and rammed a low-powered rasengan into her back, firing her off towards the real Naruto, whom of which, was just waiting with his arm out stretched.

She racketeered into his arm, and hit him with a powerful strike, nearly sending Naruto down with her. But Naruto channeled chakra into his arm to keep it steady, and managed to simply knock her out. With a small laugh, he laid her down on the grass and placed a hiraishin seal somewhere she would never see or feel, and put another seal to hide it from view.

Just before leaving, he filled out a scroll with a letter and placed it next to the young Iwa girl and flashed away before anyone could notice anything.

_-Backwards time-skip end…Four years later in the present day..._

The sound of chirping birds shook Naruto from his thoughts. He looked to the sky and found that the morning was coming. He sat up and woke Kurotsuchi from her sleep with a quiet whisper and told her to get dressed.

After a few minutes of dressing and a few more kissing, Kurotsuchi stopped and gave Naruto a small smile before popping into a puff of smoke, leaving the golden-haired boy alone in the same clearing that they first met and fought in. He stretched as he fixed his armor and strapped his sword to his side.

With a flash of golden light, he was gone.

_ -In Konoha…_

Naruto flashed into his room and quickly changed back into his normal sleeping clothing and headed to his bathroom to take a quick piss before heading back to bed. Once there, he climbed into the sheets and was immediately embraced in the cold arms of his companion. Yamanaka Ino. A small wedding band was around her left ring finger.

"Where have you been?" Ino asked in a soft and groggy voice. "I've been quite lonely…"

"I was just going out for a walk…" Naruto replied as he kissed the young blonde on the forehead.

* * *

**Well this is the first chapter, the next one will come soon and the next rewritten chapter of N:SFG is coming soon too so keep an eye out on that! If you haven't read the fic, then read it!**

**Jutsu:**

**Youton: Youdangan no jutsu: Lava release: Lava bullet technique**

**Suiton: Suidangan no jutsu: Water release: Water bullet technique**

******Bunshin Daibakuha: Great Clone explosion**

**********Suiton: Dai Mizu Bakufu: Water release: Great Water Explosion**

**********Youton: Yougan numa no jutsu: Lava release: Lava swamp technique**

**************Bakuton: Baku Bunshin no jutsu: Bomb clone technique**

**So if anyone got the reference i did with Kurotsuchi, then you sir/ma'am will receive an internetz cookie! ^^**

**Kakkōii = Good looking/handsome**

**don't forget to leave a review!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	2. New Lights

**Here is the next chapter!**

**A/N: If it's a little too confusing, this chapter is six months after the first. **

**Character ages:**

**Naruto, Kaede, Sasuke, Ino, Kurotsuchi: 20-21**

**Minato, Kushina, Kitsuchi, Jibachi: Minato, Kushina- 36 Kitsuchi- 37 Jibachi- 38**

**just so you know, Naruto and Kuro are twenty in the start of the first chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto :(**

* * *

**Chapter 2: New lights**

**_Six months later…_**

The sun was brighter than what it normally was. The twenty years old, Naruto squinted for a good portion of the day so far and it was already midday. He was wearing his golden armor, like he usually did with the Konoha hitai-ate tied around his forehead. Today was just a boring day especially since there were no missions or anything of that sort, but he had still kept a broad smile stretched on his face since he was with the girl he was married to. Yamanaka Ino.

Ino had an ethereal glow about her that made Naruto blush. His heart beat heavy by just with her it was a feeling that he thought he'd forgotten he had for the platinum blonde. In her left arm were a handful of bags and in her right arm was Naruto's left arm, interlaced with hers. People everyone bowed and gasped at the couple as they made their way through the street. She would stop and converse with the villagers and even played with some of the children who came up to the couple. She sighed and would playfully poke Naruto on his cheeks while still not noticing his frown.

The two were walking a calm pace through the village and bought things here and there, wasting his infinite money on useless things for a woman, but Naruto didn't protest. Even though he was enjoying his time spent with his wife, his mind wasn't there or anywhere for that manner. The only thing going on through his mind was the beautiful, curvaceous and sadistic Iwa Princess…that he hasn't seen for almost six months, it was almost as if she had disappeared. Despite the new and emerging feelings about his actual wife, all of the secret nights together with the Princess began to flash into his mind as he concentrated harder to those good days of the past.

**_Flashback…Four years ago…midnight…_**

"I see you came." Kurotsuchi's voice sounded behind Naruto's ear. "I was wondering if you got the call…"

"I did. Now I'm here." Naruto turned around and narrowed his eyes at the beautiful Princess. "What did you want to speak to me about?"

"What?" Kuro feigned a look of hurt. "I can't talk to the only shinobi who can keep up to me, whenever I want?"

"Well…it's not that…it's just, I was taking a nap." Naruto grumbled. "I need to take my naps y'know."

Ever since their little introductory scuffle with each other, Naruto and Kurotsuchi met up every few nights for the past three months to fight and spar with one another, and on some nights to just talk. Seeing as how no one would listen to their problems or at least understand where they were coming from. Naruto couldn't tell Ino about his issues since he knew that she wouldn't understand. He knew his own sister wouldn't understand. He was so glad that he left a scroll telling her about the hiraishin seal he placed on her.

When Kurotsuchi woke up the next day of that night, she was surprised to see a small scroll placed next to her body. When she opened the scroll, she was pissed off to say the least. She took the long way home to think about the power that the Kogane ōji had given her. The ability to call him to her whenever she wanted. She could always call him in the middle of the street in Iwa and have him captured right on the spot, and sell him for ransom to Konoha. But He trusted her enough to know that she really wouldn't do that.

After a long conversation with herself, Kurotsuchi chose to take responsibility of her new power, which surprised herself and Naruto. And it also turned out that Naruto would be able to cross and entire country in less than a second and be able to get to her in a moment's notice. At the beginning of their 'relationship' if you could call it that, all they did was talk…with their fists. And neither said anything about doing other than that. They liked their fights.

For hours the two would go at it every other night it would seem, and sometimes, every night for a week. Throughout the fighting and sparing, the two ended up gaining some form of friendship, or endearment towards one another, especially if they met each other on the unofficial battlefields as masked shinobi. The excitement that flowed through their veins, when they'd see each other flash or pop onto the battlefield, was something that they loved to experience. They've been seeing each other so much, that they were able to recognize each other's chakra signature, so when they were in battle, both sides knew when to show up.

Kuro loved their spars. She loved them so much that could easily say that she loves the Golden Prince himself for existing. Naruto though, was the only person, besides her father and two brothers that could keep up with her and her amazing skills in combat. The Kogane ōji moved with a lightning grace that never ceased to amaze her, it made her tremble with his sheer skill in battle, and recently, it started making her…wet. Shaking herself from her reverie, she realized what the golden haired shinobi prince had just said.

"You take naps at this time of the night?" Kuro deadpanned. "You Konoha-nin are just so strange."

"Well…Ino-chan is gone on a mission right now…and won't be back for the next few days so…" Naruto replied with an equally deadpanned expression. "I'd only be awake if she were there to tell me what to do…"

"I see that you're still a minion." Kurotsuchi giggled.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now. Why am I here?" Naruto asked with a small smile.

"Oh…! I wanted to talk to you about something…" Kurotsuchi suddenly looked so weak to Naruto.

"W-What's wrong…?" The golden-haired boy asked.

"I'm getting forced into marriage…" Kurotsuchi spat. "To some snobby looking noble from one of the other villages of Iwa. I know nothing of him, or his skills, or his damn clan, except for the fact that his grandfather helped my great-grandfather Yamauchi Kyojin, the Shodaime Tsuchikage fight the Shodaime Hokage and Uchiha Madara."

"What's this guy's name?" Naruto asked intrigued. Anyone who was a descendent of such people who could fight against such legendary Konoha ninja, then this guy must be something…at least that's what Naruto hoped.

"Kamizuru Jibachi." Kuro replied. "He's quite tall, scrawny-ish, long blond hair, wears glasses."

"Wait! Isn't he like…twenty years older than you?!" Naruto growled.

"That's the thing about people of royalty…" Kuro growled. "We can't marry for love…but only for the good of the village."

"Yeah…so." Naruto drew out his katana. "You wanna spar?" He knew that this was the only way to keep away whatever depressing feelings that they may have residing within them.

"I was afraid that you wouldn't ask…" Kuro had a small smirk curl on her lips. Her heart beat heavily, but she put those feelings aside and narrowed her eyes at the shinobi. The two charged each other with all of their strength and their katanas held steady.

But before they could clash their blades against each other, he was snapped from his thoughts and came to realize that he was staring out into space with Sasuke and Kaede looking at him with a worried expression. Ino looked at him with weird eyes as well as she waved her hand in front of his eyes.

"What is it?" Naruto asked with a nervous laugh. "Did something happen?" Ino giggled slightly. It was like music to his ears, the song that angels sing. Naruto blushed faintly enough so that no one could tell, but Ino's face suddenly flashed and Naruto ended up seeing the transparent face of Kurotsuchi forming around Ino's own face. Naruto shut his eyes and opened them again to see Ino back to normal.

"Of course!" Ino smiled. "Check it out! The new Fūuin-hime movie just came out!" She grabbed the golden haired boy's arm and dragged him towards the movie theatre with Sasuke and Kaede trailing right behind. Throughout the entire situation, it happened to bring up another memory. One that had an awkward conclusion.

**_Flashback…two years ago…midday_**

"Hellooooo!" Naruto flashed into the battlefield with his katana drawn and found Taki shinobi shooting off water blasts and water dragons against Iwa's fire blasts and earth dragons. The entire battleground was scorched and ruined, with large boulders protruding from the ground, and tons of overturned earth piled high like manmade hills.

Fires were raging throughout the clearing for as far as Naruto could see. He dashed through a falling boulder and weaved in between a spiraling water dragon and sped through hand seals once a glob of lava flew over him.

**"Suiton: Suijinheki!"** Naruto shot out a large blast of water, hardening and cooling the terrifyingly hot liquid. Once the rocks were formed, he used his katana to cut through the hardened lava and dashed through the rocks and landed onto the ground, surrounded by Iwa shinobi and footmen.

A footman chose to slash for the golden armored masked man, but Naruto quickly spun around with his katana held out and slashed the man's throat open. Once he was finished, Naruto kicked the dead man way and dodged a flying kunai and sent his own at the shinobi who threw it at him. The Kyuubi jinchuriki jumped up and sped through hand seals to evade a flurry of shuriken and kunai flying at him from all directions.

**"Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku!"** The boy spun around while still mid-air, surprising everyone with the power of his attack, especially Kurotsuchi. The extremely powerful flames scorched through her men and melted their skin. The heat was so powerful that the forest started catching on fire, even though they weren't even hit by the flames. Once Naruto landed into the eye of the inferno, he sped through even more hand seals.

**"Fuuton: Kami Meikai!"** A massive gust of wind started to build up around Naruto but then soon enough, formed into a massive tornado that began to expand and blow back all the flames and clear the battlefield of any and all forms of fire and combatant, save for one girl with short black hair and dull-pinkish eyes.

"Wow. That's an interesting attack that you got going on Naru-kun." Kurotsuchi drawled out the honorific. "Caught me off guard with your affinity for fire."

"Well, I am known as the Number One, Unpredictable Shinobi of Konoha!" Naruto smirked as he drew out his katana.

"Shut up. No you're not." Kuro deadpanned. "I called you here because I wanted a challenge. Fighting these minions are pointless."

"You asked for it then…don't say I didn't warn you!" Naruto smirked.

"What war-" Kuro was punched on her cheek by a shadow clone, and sent flying to her side, but before she could hit the ground, another blasted shadow clone came out and punched her other cheek and sent her flying in the opposite direction like a Ping-Pong ball. It wasn't even a second into the fight and she was already getting embarrassed.

Just as she took noticed of the incoming shadow clone, she drew out her lucky tanto and dug the knife into the clone's chest, dispelling it in the process and giving her enough room to maneuver around and get ready to fight her opponent head on. She grabbed a handful of kunai and hurled them at Naruto, whom of which, promptly dodged.

**"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!"** Kurotsuchi shot off the childish jutsu and got the planned results. Just as the flames hit Naruto, he flashed behind her and held his kunai ready to stab her.

"It seems you've already…wait…what?!" Kurotsuchi began to melt, revealing another Kurotsuchi smiling right at him with a giant smile.

**"Bakuton: Baku-jisatsu!"** The smiling Kurotsuchi exploded in a bright red and white light, and sent the armored Namikaze, flying into the trees. Once he was finished, plowing through the forest, he landed in a group of recuperating Iwa shinobi and footmen.

"Get him!" One of them shouted.

'Shit! I don't have my sword!' Naruto cursed mentally. One of the shinobi got close enough to start slicing at the masked shinobi, but Naruto weaved and dodged each attack. Still these shinobi had no idea who he was, except for Kurotsuchi and Han. 'Speaking of Han...where the hell is the guy?'

The Iwa shinobi made a grave mistake and missed his slash, giving Naruto the perfect opening. Naruto reached into his kunai pouch and drew out a three-pronged kunai and stabbed it through the shinobi and channeled chakra through the blade, elongating it into a three foot long blade made of pure chakra.

Once he tore the attack from the man's body, he threw the kunai at another shinobi. He sighed when the rest of the Iwa force retreated through the forest.

_Boom!_

'Fuck! I forgot that Kuro was still here!' The golden haired boy dashed through the woods and into the clearing once again and then came to realize just how much carnage he had caused for the Iwa forces. Scorched bodies and some still burning clothes and scorched earth. He looked through to the other side of the clearing and saw smoke billowing into the sky.

He concentrated chakra to his ears and the sound of screams became known. He was suddenly stopped mid-step. There was a great and powerful pull on his armor. It surprised and freaked him out at the same time. He looked forward to see Kurotsuchi holding her hand out with a strange aura flowing around it.

"Turns out I have another kekkei genkai. Jiton!" Kuro shouted as she pulled the Namikaze towards her with an invisible force of power. Kuro didn't take into consideration the rate at which he was coming in at and the size of the target coming towards her, nor did she take into consideration her own height. She just pulled the Namikaze closer towards her.

In a sudden action, the two clashed. But not with their bodies, or swords. Not with their fists or kicks, but instead with their lips.

"Naruto-kun…" Ino cooed. "You've been staring out into space lately. You know I could always have my father clear up your mind…"

In a moment of silence, Naruto stared deep into her teal orbs and for a moment, felt like he was floating in the sea. Her eyes held so much depth that he was literally about to lay down and bathe himself in peace and serenity. But then he just realized what she just said.

"N-No need for that Ino-chan!" Naruto coughed slightly. "Are we waiting in line for tickets?"

"No. If you weren't staring out into space, you would have noticed Kaede stealing your wallet to pay for our tickets and administration. She even used extra money for food." Ino laughed at Naruto's deadpanned expression.

Her smile made Naruto blush. Those white teeth and beautiful smile stretched across her face, only served to accentuate her beauty to its highest form. Thank god his kage bunshin were on their way getting the surprise ready. He wanted to impress his wife today.

"It's alright. At least we get to see the most beautiful actress in history perform in the most famous movie series in history!" Ino smirked.

"Icha Icha Paradise: The Movie Series?!" Naruto smiled brightly with a faraway look on his face. Sparkles and glitter glowed and glinted in his eyes as every other man in the movie theatre ended up with the same expression as Naruto, just at the mere mention of the name.

"BAKA!" Ino lodged her fist into the back of his head and sent him crashing onto the floor of the movie theatre, catching the attention of most of the village couples and families. Most of them laughed along with the Yamanaka Princess, while others shook their heads at the immaturity of their prince.

'That was fun…' Ino smiled. 'I'm so glad that his father isn't sending him off on those missions anymore…now we can spend time together!' Ino bent down at the writhing Naruto and giggled before helping him up to his feet.

"T-That was uncalled for…" Naruto whined.

"Whatever Naru-kun. Just come on. We have a movie to catch."

_-Two hours and a half later…_

Naruto stretched and yawned. The movie was amazing, but since he didn't have any sleep the night before, he ended up falling asleep in the movie theatre while the movie played. It was a strange thing to prospect in his half-asleep mind, as his dream began to change and morph into something different and into a closer-to-home adaptation with a cast of people based on his life.

He sighed when he realized that he couldn't keep up his relationship with Kurotsuchi. It's been six months since they last spoke or fought, and Naruto in turn used that time to spend with his wife and twin. It's been a long time since he and his wife got to hang out and actually be a couple, but now that they are, his life has never been better. He didn't have to hide from people or have to meet in secret. He could show his love for her and no one would care.

But still…

He couldn't fathom how confused he was as the dream played out. It seemed more like a premonition than anything really. It was too vivid to be called a dream, but too out there to be called a reality. He couldn't understand. But at least it was over. He could go on a date with his wife of two years and his two other favorite people in the world; Sasuke and his twin sister; Kaede.

"So where are we going off to tonight?" Sasuke asked.

"Somewhere special!" Naruto smiled.

"How so exactly?" Ino asked.

"It's just something that Naruto-nii and I, put together for all four of us." Kaede smirked. "So sit tight and be patient."

**_-In Iwagakure…_**

"Why don't you ever moan when we fuck Kuro-chan?" A miserly man sounded from behind the black-haired girl. He wrapped his arms around body and grabbed one of her breasts, but she promptly slapped it away. "It makes me feel like you're being rebellious."

Jibachi took a sip from the bottle of sake in his other hand as he tightened his grip around her right breast. Kuro grunted and gripped the dresser as tightly as possible. She gritted her teeth when he started rubbing his hand around her breast. "Wait…I thought this stuff turns you on?"

"Well you thought wrong..." Kuro spat. 'Only works when Naru-kun does it…'

"I'm your husband though…" Jibachi whispered into her ear. He quickly grabbed her by the waist and threw her into the bed behind him and immediately got to work. Kuro though, was kicking and screaming obscenities, but to no avail. What did she expect would happen…this is all she's done for the past six months? Her 'husband' thought he was going to get some tonight.

Kurotsuchi spat on his face and slapped him off of her body. A small trail of blood trickled out of his mouth a dribbled down the side of his lips. He took off his glasses and put them on the bedside table. Kuro had a cocky look on her face as Jibachi quickly got up from his position on the floor.

He backhanded Kurotsuchi across the face and pulled up a stool and sat down while putting his hand under her chin and forcing her to look at him. Kurotsuchi growled slightly but deigned from fighting him. For six months, she was treated like a prisoner, and that meant that she couldn't see Naruto. For six damn months she couldn't see him, hear of him, or just…feel him.

Jibachi sighed and threw her back into the bed. He scratched the back of his neck and put his glasses back onto his face and left the bed. He walked up to the bar in his room and drew out a bottle of super rare platinum tequila and poured out enough to just fill up a shot glass before downing the entire thing and hurling the glass towards Kurotsuchi. Good thing he was drunk, or else that shot glass would have cut her cheeks open.

"Now I wonder how your father would feel about this, how should I put it…unresponsive behavior…?" Jibachi asked as he poured himself another shot. "My father wouldn't like this at all, and would feel betrayed and break off our deal with Kitsuchi-sama…I wonder what your father would-"

"I fucking get it." Kuro growled.

"Now then…would you mind showing me those wonderful tits you have?" She sighed. For the past six months, this is what she had to deal with. She just prayed to Kami that Naruto would be able to find happiness unlike her lonesome self. She shrugged herself back to normal and stood up while reaching for her shirt. She bit her lip feeling like she's betraying Naruto, but complied anyway. 'The village comes before personal gain…'

She lifted her shirt high enough to reveal her plump breasts and let them plop free of her shirt and glared at Jibachi while he stared intently. He walked towards her with a slow pace and wrapped his effeminate hands over her mounds and started licking the nub. He rubbed his thumb around the areola and pinched her nipple, slightly pissing Kurotsuchi off.

'For the longest time…it was only Naruto-kun that could touch me like this…' Kurotsuchi bit her lip as she tried to fight back the tears. She fought the urge to slap Jibachi and call on Naruto, but why would she do that after so many months of not talking or even the I-just-want-to-talk call, but that was beside the point. This is what was important for the Yamauchi clan.

Suddenly a team of jounin burst into the room followed by Kitsuchi himself. Kurotsuchi pushed Jibachi off of her and dropped her shirt and bowed to her father. All them shinobi had serious expressions on their faces. They were fully dressed with armor and weapons at their sides. There were Iwa ANBU standing guard outside of the window and outside of the building.

"We need you for something Kurotsuchi…" Kitsuchi said with narrowed eyes. "It seems that your brothers have told me some very compromising information about you and a certain…Kogane ōji no Konoha." Kurotsuchi was about to say something in her defense but Kitsuchi raised his hand and shut off any form of protest from his daughter.

"We know that you've been seeing the Golden Prince, Kurotsuchi. It was confirmed by multiple sources." Kitsuchi said with an unreadable face. Suddenly a strange feeling washed over Kurotsuchi starting from the base of her neck and to the rest of her body. "What information were you able to get out of him while you two fight during the nights?"

'Whew! Holy Kami…I thought I was a goner there for a moment…' Kuro steeled her resolve and looked at her father straight in the eyes. "Not that much; just his personal life and a few things about his friends. Oh from what I can remember, his best friend's birthday is coming up soon."

"Really?" Kitsuchi asked as he rubbed his chin. "Which friend?" The feeling began to drown her brain and made her feel hazy and like she was floating.

"Uchiha Sasuke." She replied. She wasn't even able to shut her mouth. "He's turning twenty-one in two months on the 23rd of July. The entire Uchiha clan will be face-shit drunk during all of this."

"Entire Uchiha Clan?" Kitsuchi asked trying to goad more information from her.

"Yes. The ENTIRE clan. Like everyone!" Kuro said. 'What the fuck?! I…what just happened?!'

"Understood…get more information from him. We'll need to come up with a plan to start off our war with a bang."

Kurotsuchi looked down at the floor while all the shinobi left the vicinity and left Jibachi to continue what he was doing. He suddenly tackled Kurotsuchi and started working on her pants. She stared aimlessly at the ceiling of their room and sighed once again before looking away from Jibachi.

'I need to speak to Naruto-kun…kami…I just miss him so much…'

**_In Konoha…_**

Naruto smiled as Ino gasped at the sight. Sasuke looked at Kaede with a small blush on his cheeks.

Faggot.

But putting that aside, the four sat on a large blanket with a basket filled with different bento boxes filled with all kinds of wonderful ingredients. Ino smiled brightly as she took the first bite into her bento. Almost immediately, her mouth exploded with a billion different flavors fighting for dominance. It was an exhilarating experience for her. She always loved the Namikaze twin's cooking.

Sasuke sighed as he drank a full bottle of sake dry. He smiled at Kaede and kissed her cheeks while getting some rice that was stuck on his lips to get stuck on her cheeks. He looked down and grabbed one of the bento and popped open the top to see his bento shaped and molded and formed into a sharingan eye. With four Uchiha fans on its top and bottom and both sides. He looked over to Kaede and smiled brightly.

"Thank you babe." Sasuke smirked.

"Shut up Sasuke and get a room!" Naruto called out in between the kisses he was giving and receiving from Ino.

They sat in relative silence after the make-out sessions ended, and ate their food peacefully. The sun was slowly setting in the distance bathing Konoha in a grand orange-red hue that seemed to calm the four twenty year olds.

Naruto's fingers were tightly laced with Ino's. A small smile was spread across his face as he stared off into the villages and watched the people go about their normal business, and came to realize something…he needed to speak to Kurotsuchi about their 'relationship' and what they should do.

He realized that he couldn't hurt Ino any longer and that he needed to be there for her, especially if what she had told him was true. Naruto sighed at how troublesome the situation could get, but deigned from saying it out loud. He just needed more time to think about certain things. Not only did he have an ongoing affair with his arch-nemesis, but he also had two little siblings to start taking care of.

_Flashback…three years ago…_

Naruto and Kaede came dashing into the hospital room drenched in sweat from their training just a few moments ago. They barged into the hospital room and found their gorgeous mother holding another set of twins in her arms. Their father looked at the two new children with a deep happiness rippling in his eyes. Kaede was the first to dash for the children and realized that the new twins were an exact opposite of her and Naruto.

The girl; Mito had blonde hair like her father and had the pale white skin of her mother. The boy; had blood red streaks of hair that flowed through his black hair. At first Kushina was confused, but after a very long explanation from Tsunade about recessive and dominant genes in a person's DNA, Kushina ended up not understanding what the old lady had said.

"There is a possibility that the child could have a different hair color or mutation in his/her genes, despite being the child of two parents with recessive of dominant genes." Tsunade sighed.

"Ohhh…I think I get it…sort of…" Kushina still looked confused, but shook it off to coo at her two new babies.

It must be strange to see a woman with seventeen year old children having another child, twins no less, but she was only sixteen when she gave birth to Naruto and Kaede so it was understandable. Different times, so things were done differently.

"Look at them…they're so adorable…" Kaede called over to her elder brother. "They're going to be super strong like us!"

"Indeed. That's because you two not only will be training, you two will also be their caretakers when your mother and I are away from the village!"

_End Flashback…_

'Yup. That's the life.' Naruto sighed. 'But how will Kurotsuchi take the news of my new decision…?' Naruto shook the thoughts from his head and turned to see Ino with a lustful look on her face. She pulled his shirt collar and began to lead him from the Hokage monument and into the seclusion of the bushes and overgrown brush and foliage at the top of the mountain face.

"You know…it's been a while since we fucked…" Ino smirked as she unclipped her dress. "I'm…also…thinking of a child Naruto-kun…we're shinobi y'know, so we'll never know when we might die…"

"Shhh." Naruto silenced her with a finger on her lips. "Don't say another word Ino-chan."

She smiled brightly as the golden haired boy pulled down her pants to reveal soaked panties. The boy slowly pulled those down and kept his eyes on the trail of pussy juice formed from the pantie all the way to her entrance. Ino moaned and blushed heavily.

Naruto picked her up and began to eat her out with his near perfect eating skills. He's had tons of practice with Kurotsuchi, not that he'll ever say that out loud. Ino moaned loudly as Naruto began to lick the sensitive nub just above the entrance to her nether lips. Her face was glowing crimson just like the sky above them.

"No foreplay…let's skip to the main-" Ino was suddenly pushed to the ground with her ass pointing up and her pussy showing for Naruto in all of its wonderful and shaved glory, dripping in juice. Naruto's member suddenly shot up as Naruto held it against the tight opening.

"Way ahead-" Naruto grunted as he shoved the entire thing inter her pussy. "Of you, Ino-hime."

**_In Iwagakure…_**

Kurotsuchi sat on the shower floor as water pulsated over her naked form. She felt like shit. Hell, she even looked the part. She sat down on the floor wringing out Jibachi's seed from her pussy. She really didn't want his kid. The only person's child that she could easily say without a doubt was Naruto's.

He was strong, a wonderful lover that kept her going for hours, and the best feature of Naruto was that he could keep up with her during their fights, and she daresay, beat her on a few occasions. She just wanted to be in his embrace again. And after that strange feeling she felt when her father showed up, she still didn't know where it came from, but whatever it was, it caused her to spill secret information that could possibly hurt or get Naruto killed; which was something that she really didn't want to happen.

She leaned back to let the cold water wash over her sore muscles and drench her obsidian black hair. She took a deep breath and sighed. She clenched her teeth as tears began to fall from her eyes. She hated this. She hated how quickly she was degraded to nothing but some snob's fuck toy. He's even older than her fucking father. Kuro wept, but the shower drowned out her cries.

'I really need to see him again…I just need to see him…'

**_In Taki no Kuni…_**

The light of the moon was up, glowing the night sky in its bright luminescent white light. Kurotsuchi popped into the clearing that everything first began. She sighed at the memories and felt the cooled magma constructs littering the entire battlefield and the large holes and compact dents in the earth brought a small smile to her face.

She calmly walked over to a patch of grass that happened to have a blanket on top with indentions and stab marks showing that something heavy was placed there and swords or something with a sharp tip was stabbed into the ground. The blanket looked ruffled and had dry cum stains.

'It's still here…after all of those months…' Kuro smiled slightly as she replayed the entire night in her mind.

All the screams, the cries of pleasure and the clapping of skin in between the two of them. The emotions were overloading her mind as she collapsed onto the grass and felt the puncture marks in the ground. She drew out her katana and stabbed the blade into the ground and laid down onto the blanket laid out on the ground.

She could feel him entering her body with such speed and animalistic instinct. His feral look when he'd start pumping chakra into each pump. She could feel her pussy get wet and feel warm as the thoughts continued to linger. The overbearing scent of cum and sweat entered her nose and caused her to nearly lose it.

'I need to speak to him.' She sat up and channeled chakra to the back of her neck once again, and within a moment, unlike the previous results, a bright yellow flash happened not too far from where she was and from the flash came Naruto dressed in his golden armor. He had a serious expression but he looked like he was about to cry.

"What is it Kuro-chan?" Naruto asked. Kurotsuchi was surprised to say the least but didn't show it.

"I need to talk to you…I missed you for these past few months…." Kuro looked away. She sniffled as the thoughts of Jibachi came flowing into her mind, and about how abusive he is.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked as he pulled her in for a hug.

"My life is what happened…I'm married to a pedophile rapist that only seems to care about my body…someone is watching me and somehow found out about me sneaking out and meeting you and told my father about it…"

"W-What?" Naruto's eyes went wide. "What has your father said about it?"

"Just that he wants to start our war with a bang…" She replied. 'I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but my nation comes before our love…'

"Alright…tell me anything of importance if you can…please. I don't want us to be forced to kill each other." Naruto quietly pleaded.

"Understood…but hey…we'll have to be more careful when we meet…" Kuro said sadly. "We'll have to cut down on our meetings."

"I agree…" Naruto replied. The speed of his response made her heart pang with hurt. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. "I have a wife whom of which that I'm starting to fall for and I'm pretty sure that your husband is going to get suspicious."

"…" Kuro's lips twitched slightly as she looked away. 'What is he trying to say…?'

"Understand?" Naruto said with a commanding tone. "No one can ever know about what we've become. If a war breaks out, we'll have to cease all communication with each other."

'Is he…trying to kick me from his life?!' Kuro's heart began to hurt, but she didn't show it.

The two have been having a secret relationship together for the past three years, and throughout that relationship, they gave each other everything; Food, training, information, stories and even their virginities. It happened so long ago, that they didn't even care to elaborate on how it happened. All that either can remember about that night was that it was one of the best that they've ever felt.

'Kuro-chan…please understand.' Naruto sighed before turning his back to the Iwa kunoichi.

"If it's going to have to be this way then so be it…" Kurotsuchi frowned. "I guess this is the end of our relationship, isn't it…minion?"

"I guess it is." Naruto frowned, but vanished away in a flash of light before they could elaborate on their issues.

For a few moments Kurotsuchi stayed silent. Everything just hit her like a ton of bricks. For six months, she fought back and rebelled against Jibachi and her marriage because of her love for Naruto…but only to find out that he moved on. She wasn't mad, nor was she sad; she was just confused for the moment. After all that she went through, all of the risk she went through to see him…he just blew her off like that. She did the only thing she thought of doing; she suddenly collapsed onto the ground and broke down into tears. She didn't expect it to be this way, but if Naruto was going to be this way then so be it.

She didn't even put up a fight.

"War it is…Kogane no ōji…" Kurotsuchi shut her eyes and looked up to the moon. "The Yougan-hime will be the one to kill you…since this is the way it has to be…"

"It's nothing personal…" She stood up and overloaded the hiraishin seal on her neck and caused it to destroy itself and vanish, leaving her unmarked. She reached into her kunai pouch and pulled out a three-pronged kunai, personally made by Naruto and gifted to her on her nineteenth birthday, and threw it into the ground next to her katana. "…It's just war."

* * *

**Tell me what you thought! I bet I caught you off guard. Nah. I didn't. **

**But still! **

**Sorry if it was too rushed. I couldn't come up with anything, and I really wanted to get this chapter out before the school week starts again, but I at least got what I wanted out and posted! **

**so what do you think's going to happen during Sasuke's birthday? What's going to happen with NaruxKuro? **

**Jutsu: **

**Bakuton: Baku-jisatsu: Explosion release: Explosive suicide**

**Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku: Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation : I'll explain later how he got all of those new techniques**

**Fuuton: Kami Meikai: Wind Release: Divine Clarity**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	3. Sunday Bloody Sunday

**So. Here's the next chapter! Word of warning: This fanfic will only get Darker from here on out. So if you can't take the direction this is going, I really don't blame you. It's an acquired taste in a fanfic.**

**Can you guess where I got the inspiration for this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto at all Dx**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Sunday Bloody Sunday**

**-July 1st, Saturday…**

The night passed slowly, especially since the Golden Prince was alone for the last few nights. The wife that he just started to truly fall for, has been gone on an 'S' ranked mission. His bed was cold and his blanket was all his. He trailed his thumb over his right finger and traced it across the ring wrapped around the base of his finger. He took a deep breath as the sun's rays began to force their way through his room's windows and drawn shade.

"Why sun…" Naruto groaned. "I could have had a nice sleep…" He sighed in distress and sat up. His bedhead making it seem like he has more hair than what he actually does. He threw off the blankets and slid off his bed and walked ahead through the large room and headed for his bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and quickly looked away. His facial features were deteriorating…well that's what he thought.

After his shower he walked around the room with only a towel hiding his lower body. He calmly walked up to his window and pulled open the shades to reveal the sight that he loved to wake up to. The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Birds were flying about through the morning scene of the bustling village. People and tourists were travelling through the streets staying in the nice hotels that lined the main road of the village, with businessmen and farmers all along the strip selling their wares and goods.

"Kami…I love this village…" He turned around and leaned against the window sill. 'Still…what is this feeling…it's irking me…'

_In Iwagakure no Sato…_

Traveling through the thick darkness and the even thicker smoke, one could find Kurotsuchi sitting in a chair with a blank look on her face. Her husband was passed out on his bed. Just recently he had finished releasing a thick load into the twenty year old kunoichi. She used to fight back and struggle, but after what Naruto had done to her…she shook her head from her thoughts and looked away from her reflection.

She looked terrible. Her hair was significantly longer and her eyes held a strange animosity in them, which she just couldn't comprehend. Eye bags were formed beneath her tired dull-pink eyes. If this were any time before, she would be crying her eyes out right now, but she was broken. She lost the one person that she could truly say that she loved, to a Yamanaka whore.

Kurotsuchi clenched her fists tighter as the thoughts of Naruto came flittering through her mind. Her head was in pain, as was her stomach, but it was fine. She knew she wasn't pregnant. She always made sure not to. But lately, she was getting fed up with her thoughts. She wanted to give in to what her father keeps telling her. She wants a war.

Because it's the only way she'll be able to see him.

Kurotsuchi threw away the cigarette she was burning through, and leaned back in her seat. Her mind was floating as she stared at the dark ceiling above her. Where she was, she doesn't really know, except that it's where the Kamizuru have their mating parties; or whatever it is. Kuro didn't give a damn. All she cared about what exacting revenge on the one who truly wronged her.

Kogane ōji no Konoha. Or, Namikaze Naruto, the Golden Prince of Konoha.

Kurotsuchi scoffed and looked back at her reflection. She's been used and abused by Jibachi, but she never really took into consideration what kind of damage the snob actually did to her body. Her arms and chest have bruises and scars, not from combat or from torture, but instead, they were the normal results of an abusive husband.

'He's a drunk fuck with a small dick.' Kuro laughed. 'I can take the pain…I just can't take _that _pain…'

Kuro sighed and got up from her seat in front of her dresser. She wafted through the smoke and found her way to the bathroom and quickly funneled inside to make sure that she was alone. She washed her face and washed her chest. She shook her head and walked over to take a nice and warm shower to relieve herself of her issues.

_In Konohagakure…_

Naruto stretched his arms slightly before entering the Ichiraku Ramen booth. After being greeted by Teuchi and Ayame, he sat down at one of the high stools and ordered six miso ramen bowls. Within moments, the first three were dropped in front of the prince, and the boy dug in with so much speed, that it somewhat scared some of the new comers to the restaurant.

Once Naruto finished his meal, he slapped down enough to pay for his food, and their rent for the next month. Once Teuchi realized this, he freaked out and told Naruto that there was no need for that, but the Golden Prince reassured that it was like a present for being such good chefs. He flashed the two business owners a small smile and headed out onto the strip.

He placed his hands into his pockets. A slightly bummed expression was spread on his face as he looked around at the people of the strip. Once they saw the golden haired, whisker-faced, Prince, they dropped down and bowed as deep as they could. Women quivered, men trembled, and children were awe-stricken. The Namikaze-Senju paid no attention to it and sighed.

It wasn't that he didn't like the attention, it's just that all of the glances of endearment, the praise, it got old after a while, and it only served to show who the most trustworthy of your friends are. Naruto flashed a small grin and walked off to no-where in particular and looked away with a his eyes shut. It was too early to be thinking about all of those depressing things.

''Maybe some training is in schedule for me…what do you say Kurama?" Naruto asked.

"I would like some training…" Kurama replied with a smirk. "We still need to work on that damn Bijuu cloak of ours."

"Yessir!" Naruto flashed away from the street and reappeared in the middle of his old training ground. Training ground seven.

The memories of when he was still just a young prince in training flowed into his mind as the breeze flew in, blowing through his unkempt hair and loose kimono sleeves. After relishing in the breeze he took a deep breath and pulled the reins on his nerves and had a new face filled with determination and resolve. He hunched over with his hands on his knees as he called upon the synchronized chakra of his bijuu.

The effects were beautiful. His body burst into yellow flames as black seals grew on his skin and spread from the seal on his abs and up to his chest. The seals spread from there, down his arms and stopped at the back of his hands. A haori made from chakra spread off of his body and the seals continued to spread. He was bathed in the greatest golden light anyone has ever seen. Seems fitting since he is the Golden Prince.

He smirked to himself and looked around the battlefield and twenty clones formed. Each clone glared at each other and the original. With a quick flare of chakra, the twenty-one Naruto's vanished in a blast of golden light.

_In Iwagakure…_

Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes at her opponents. There were two of them. One was a giant with the same pinkish eyes as she did and the other was much shorter with the same black eyes of her father. The black haired Lava Princess stretched and popped her back before continuing the stare down. Her two brothers only received one kekkei genkai, while she herself, received four.

Her giant opponent was her elder brother, the Steam Prince. He was wearing his battle armor with red metal plates forged together, but still gave him mobility. On his back was the furnace he would channel chakra into to force steam from the open ends. He wore a giant hat over his head with the Iwa hitai-ate metal plate added to his hat. He stood with a cocky pose and kept his right hand in his open chest kimono.

The smaller opponent was a redhead with a kimono on. He wore the standard wear of an Iwa jounin, so the young boy wasn't so special in the style department. His red hair was held back in a ponytail tied together by a black strap of cloth. Covering his forehead and most of his face was a large helmet like hitai-ate. He stood with a more reserved and scared defensive stance, unlike his elder brother.

"Well then. Roushi. Han." Kuro smirked. "Come."

The two jinchuriki charged forward with the chakra of their bijuu shooting off in waves. Kurotsuchi was in perfect sync with her bijuu and eight wolf tails shot from her back and smacked the two jinchuriki away from her, causing both of them to crash through trees and get forced through the ground.

She looked at her two siblings with an apathetic look. While she herself was degrading into darkness, her bijuu was trying her hardest to calm her container down. Kuro though, paid no heed to the bijuu within her. Her eyes were no longer a dull color, but instead, they were exploding with hatred and fire. Her fists began to glow as her body temperature and chakra began to heat up to levels unknown before.

Lava soon formed her bones, and then her muscles and it spread out to form her skin. Her vivid eyes whitened out into two bright lights on her face as the lava armor continued to take over her body. She growled at her youngest brother since he was the one who stole the technique from her in the first place. She charged forward with a burst of speed and formed a blade of lava that extended from her palm. Just as she closed the distance between herself and her brothers, she held the blade steady, just millimeters from his skin.

Han got up and charged her with his special taijutsu with steam building up in the fists and feet. He sent a heavy hook, but Kurotsuchi dodged and sent a side kick, knocking the man back a few feet. She withdrew her blade and dashed with chakra expelling out of her legs. The distance was closed once again. She sent a punch for the giant, but Han blocked the attack.

Kurotsuchi expected this and sent another strike to his abdominals with her right foot, but Han let go of her fist and blocked her foot with his arm. Kurotsuchi smirked and brought both of her hands around and smashed them on both sides of Han's face, bursting his eardrums. As he stumbled, Kurotsuchi landed and sent a few well-placed punches and sent off a furry tail to smack him away, leaving her with her Lava release brother.

**"Youton:** **Shakugaryūgan no Jutsu!"** Roushi shot off fifty large balls of super-heated balls of drying magma towards his sister. As this happened, Roushi himself, went into his lava armor technique and charged for his sister.

Kuro dodged and weaved in between each attack and even punched a few back towards her brother. The girl wasn't going to have any shit today. She was pissed off at Jibachi (Of course), she was pissed off at her father; She was pissed off about her village, and most of all; she was pissed off at the goddamn Kogane no ōji.

She shook her head of thoughts about the boy. If she thought of him, she might end up messing up and losing against her little brother, which was something what was never going to happen. Roushi sped forward and sent a heavy haymaker towards her jaw, but she evaded the last second and sent her own hook towards the lava armored shinobi and hit his weak spot. Just below the lower left ribcage.

The attack was strengthened with a large amount of her own and her bijuu's chakra. The result was a massive blast that sent the boy flying into the sky with a trail of smoke and strands of chakra flying off of his singed clothing and armor. She hit so hard that his crown-like hitai-ate snapped off of his forehead and cracked the moment it hit the ground.

'One more.' She growled slightly and turned her attention to her elder brother and found that he was already entering his bijuu state. A white tail with a large flame coming off the end was extended from behind. The giant charged forward with the intent to kill his little sister. His fist was drawn back with fire building up in his fist.

He punched but Kurotsuchi dodged and sent a kick at her brother and sent him back again. The black haired girl shook her head at how dull it was to fight him. Suddenly, Han pulled out his trump card and began to go through kata's for calming and drawing out his chakra without using hand seals. He shut his eyes for a good ten seconds before punching at Kurotsuchi, despite being nearly ten feet from her.

'What the hell?!' Kurotsuchi weaved around the large fire dragon that had just launched itself from her brother's fist. She spun around on the ball of her heel and sped through hand seals. 'That's new…Kokuō must have taught him something new…'

Han charged ahead once more with fire and steam in each punch and kick. Kuro backed away when Han went for a leg sweep imbued with fire. The girl charged for her brother, but, his tail suddenly changed its element and the fire was suddenly extinguished as a funnel of highly volatile wind took its place. In the split second change, the tail was swung for Kurotsuchi. The power behind the attack sent the girl flying.

'T-That's new…' Kuro was awestruck.

The tail's element changed once more, but the wind dissipated and the tail began to spark. Blue streams of electricity could be seen, moving and flowing through the small strands of fur. It built up so quickly that the tail was suddenly engulfed in a bright blast of lightning. With lightning pulsating off of his tail, he charged forward with lightning aiding him in his attack.

He flashed in front of his sister with almost the same speed at her former lover. Han sent a punch when he realized that she was in a state of shock. The attack connected and sent her careening into a boulder protruding from the ground. Her body smashed through the hard stone, shattering it into tiny little pieces. She laid there in silence and stared off into the empty sky of Tsuchi no Kuni.

Memories flashed into her mind from that attack by her brother. Naruto. Naruto. Naruto. Why did everything have to go back to him?! She sat there as tears formed in the corner of her eyes. She laid there in the little pieces of rubble that formed from the collision. Her back was numb and her head was light. Her eyes trailed through her memories and each time she thought of him, those old feelings of guilt washed over her once more.

She's betrayed him time and time again.

"Kuro-chan…are you ok?" Han asked with a worried tone. Roushi was there as well with the same worried look.

Kuro snapped from her reverie and smiled softly at her siblings. The two reached down and helped her up to her feet. She wrapped her arm around both of their backs as they led her from the training ground.

'God…I'm so happy I have such caring brothers…I wonder what would happen if I told them about Jibachi and what he _really_ does…'

**July 10th, Tuesday…midday**

"Han. As my top strategist and my eldest son, I am curious if you have a plan on how to enter the Uchiha compound during the party." Kitsuchi said.

The Tsuchikage sat down on his knees on an elevated platform. Below the platform was a large map of Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni with their troop placements and fortresses and outposts. There were two hundred pieces that represented Iwa's troops and nearly one thousand for Konoha. The thing about Iwa's troops was that nearly half of those pieces were in Hi no Kuni over the border of their nations. With a quick analysis, one would think that Konoha would have better border patrol to watch over their territories.

On either side of the map were three people. Each person wore jounin vests of Iwa and wore body armor. The man to Kitsuchi's immediate right was named Kazushi Hora, First Commander of Iwa's First Battle Division. To Kazushi's immediate left is his twin brother, Junichi Hora, First Commander of Iwa's Second Infantry Division. To finish the right side of the meeting was Goro Yasuda, First Commander of Iwa's Special Infantry Division.

Opposite to Kazushi is Gonshiro Tanji of the Tanji Clan and Commander of Iwa's First Shinobi Battle Division. Next to Kazushi is Rei Tsuchida, the only female Commander present. She is in command of Iwa's Special Explosive Division. Next to her is Kojiro Terumoto, Commander of Iwa's Second Shinobi Battle Division.

Up with the royal family, Kitsuchi sat on his high throne. Next to him on his right is Kurotsuchi dressed in her battle armor and traditional Iwa kimono underneath. On Kitsuchi's left is Roushi. He too was wearing his battle armor. Traditionally, Roushi wouldn't be allowed into the meetings, but since hit elder brother was going to be in command of the operation, Roushi would be taking his place as left hand man of the Tsuchikage.

"Indeed I have a plan father." Han replied. "As you know, the twenty-first birthday of Uchiha Sasuke is coming up."

The men and women present nodded their heads in understanding. Han walked onto the map spread out on the floor and pulled out a pointer and looked at the different pieces placed throughout the land of fire and the land of rock.

"As it stands, that is the only time that _both _the Senju and Uchiha are weak." Han said. "With the information that my little sister was able to obtain from the Golden Prince himself, she was able to determine a way to get in. If you may?"

"Thank you." Kuro stood up and took the point and brought up a map of the Uchiha Compound. "Currently, we have three hundred spies and sleeper agents in or in the vicinity of Konoha and her walls. The intended target of this assault is the destruction of the Uchiha and Senju clan."

There was a collection of gasps. Rei and Kazushi were surprised at the Princesses audacity. While the others merely shook off the surprise and smiled slightly at the girl of true Iwa descent.

"My brother and I will be leading the mission. It is non-negotiable." Kuro said just before her father could protest. "It will be a long mission, lasting for a few weeks. Our plan that we devised together is that we will go into the village under the guise of party caterers."

"What?" Gonshiro asked in surprise.

"Caterers. People who bring in cakes and food. What do you think?" Kuro asked. "But the food will be poisoned, and the cakes and other party type things that they might have planned will have weapons hidden in them for when we strike."

There was a silence that took the meeting. Kitsuchi looked at her and signaled her to continue.

"The poison will be slow acting, first attacking their nerves and it will cause them to become delirious and spastic. Once everyone is affected, that is when our sleeper agents and spies will break from their disguise and start cutting down the Uchiha. Han and I will handle the head family of the Uchiha." Kuro said. "Not only will we be getting help from the agents that we already have in the village and all over Hi no Kuni, but there are also factions within Konoha that want the Senju gone from power…"

"Can we trust these factions?" Junichi asked.

"I do not know. I don't even know who they are, but they promised aid and they were even willing to send some people to help us sell our cover." Kuro said handing the commanders the scroll.

Looks of surprise and a few gasps were even heard. Surprised looks were on many of the commander's faces; even Kitsuchi was surprised when he looked at the scroll in his hands. He looked at his daughter with a nervous look and then to his son for a sign of agreement with his little sister. Han merely nodded at his father and motioned for Kuro to continue.

"Anyway, back to the plan." Kurotsuchi walked back to the map of the Uchiha Compound. "For this operation, we will need false documentation, false Identification, false everything. We will need to sell the cover to the Uchiha or Senju when they come to us for catering."

"What is the cover for your party catering company?" Rei asked.

"Miki Muranaka Catering Company. Family owned for the last eighty-three years." Kurotsuchi said. "Han's cover will be Heizo Muranaka; the current owner of the business and elder brother of Satomi Muranaka; co-owner of the company."

"How will we strike?" Goro asked.

"The signal for the attack will be when the Shamisen begins to play." Kuro said. "Once the song begins, our spies and agents in disguise will burst from the shadows and slaughter as many Uchiha and Senju as we can and as fast as we can; we will need to be fast because once the attack begins, the Hyuuga Police will be on the scene within an hour."

"All escape routes have been planned out." Han said, taking over for his younger sister. "The attack force will split into five different groups."

He took his pointer and pointed to the different exits and entrances and rooftops to escape from. One was straight through the highest window of the highest tower in the compound.

"In the situation that any of us falls behind, we will die before we are taken prisoner." Han said with little emotion or remorse. "The casualty rate that is projected for this operation is; at a minimum, eighty percent casualty rate."

There was another collection of gasps, but the others reined their emotions and continued to listen intently to the Prince's plan.

"The operation will begin tomorrow, and the false documents are to be expected to finish by tomorrow as well." Kuro said. "We contacted our sleepers and spies and filled them in on the operation. The commanders of each cell in Hi no Kuni, agreed with the operation specifics. They are getting false identities for us as we speak."

Kitsuchi nodded his head and looked at his war council and looked at his two eldest children and scratched his chin before nodding in agreement. Roushi pulled out the official mission scroll and stamped it with the royal seal of the Yamauchi clan, before sending it off to the Documentation Department of Iwa.

"Head to Hi no Kuni immediately you two." Kitsuchi said.

_ In Konoha…seven p.m._

"Ok. So here's the game." Naruto listened intently to his two favorite comrades. Kotetsu and Izumo. "You drink till you drop. Whoever is left standing, wins!"

"I'm game." Naruto smiled with a cocky smirk.

"So am I!" Kaede said with the same cocky smirk.

"Oh really?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes really!" Kaede replied with a growl. "We are the same age, so you can't say shit about me being too young!"

"I never thought of it." Naruto sighed. "Bring her in."

"…Three…"

"…Two…"

"…One…"

"…GO!"

Naruto, Kotetsu and Izumo quickly dived for their sake and heavy liquor, while Kaede was drinking hers at a quick pace. She savored the flavor and the slight burn that the alcohol gave her. She looked over to her twin brother and shook her head as he downed his eighth bottle of Sake. Kotetsu and Izumo were awestruck at Naruto's drinking ability and immediately called over the rest of Naruto's teammates.

At the start of the operation to fight back and stagnate Iwa's advances through Kawa no Kuni and Taki no Kuni, Naruto requested a unit of highly specialized shinobi to be a part of his special unit of shinobi known as the Golden Knights or the Kogane no Kishi. They wore the standard jounin vests of Konoha underneath a breastplate of gold infused with steel.

The members were Namikaze Naruto, Namikaze Kaede, Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi, Shiranui Genma, Namiashi Raido, Yamashiro Aoba, Maito Guy, Hagane Kotetsu, and Kamizuki Izumo. Each member by default was taught the hiraishin to aide Naruto in his battles and to also keep up with the Namikaze, but they weren't as perfect with it as Kaede and Naruto were.

They acted like ANBU, protected like ANBU, even wore masks at times, like ANBU, but they fought like vicious animals. Each of their specific skills are powerful and accentuated each other like a well-oiled machine created for the specific job description of destroying their enemies. They were virtually unstoppable, at least, that was until Kurotsuchi came along with the Black Cloaks, or the Kuroi Manto.

The Kuroi Manto, moved swiftly like a disease through the forest with their black shrouds shadowing the land around them. There were at least thirty members in the unit with the most powerful Iwa shinobi that Iwa has ever produced. All of them were S-classed shinobi or higher, with Kurotsuchi, being the highest on the list.

What better way to stop the darkness than with a flash of light.

But back to the game, Naruto had finished his twentieth bottle of sake and heavy liquor, and was extremely woozy. He looked over to see Kotetsu and Izumo, completely face-shit drunk and lying face down on the table with a trail of saliva pouring out of their mouths. He looked over and saw Sasuke starting to lose consciousness, with Kakashi faring no better. But what really irked the elder Namikaze, was that his sister was sitting there with her thirtieth bottle of sake, sipping away like some high-classed civilian.

"Need something brother?" Kaede asked as she put down her bottle and picked up another bottle of sake. She popped the cork and began to take small sips and slowly upgrade to larger and large gulps. What Naruto didn't know was that the Yin half of Kurama's chakra was slowly upgrading Kaede's chakra reserves. The fox within her was changing the alcohol into energy, thus turning it into chakra, and getting rid of the feeling of being drunk.

"N-Nothing…cheeeaaater…" Naruto slurred. He picked up another bottle and pulled the cork out with his teeth and spit the cork out towards a buzzed Kakashi, knocking the man over and off of his stool, causing him to smash face down onto the floor beneath them, and nearly flip the entire table over on its side because of his flying legs. The moment Kakashi fell drunk, Sasuke soon followed right afterwards and fell backwards with his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"I think you're about to lose Nii-san." Kaede giggled.

"N-No…" Naruto suddenly stopped talking and fell face down onto the table and knocked down his empty bottles, causing them to fall with a domino-like effect in its collapse. Some bottles were knocked off and fell to the floor and shattered into little shards as Naruto slowly slid off the edge and fell to the floor to join his shit-faced teammates.

**July 21st,** **Friday…Midday…**

"Shit!" Mikoto cursed.

"What's wrong?" Fugaku asked.

"The Akimichi Caterers won't be able to cater the party!" Mikoto sighed. "They have been hired for a Daimyo of a nearby nation…we have no one to cater for the party!"

"Wait! Mikoto-san." Yamanaka Inoichi called out from their garden. "I think I might know a catering service that can help you!"

"Oh really?" Naruto said from behind Mikoto. Next to him was Sasuke, Kaede, Mito and Arashi. "Who?"

"Miki Muranaka Catering Company." Inoichi said. "Ino received a job from them, since she resigned from shinobi life."

"Oh! That business that she found not too long ago that was looking for employees." Naruto said in agreement. "From what she told me, they do everything, from Catering food, to flowers, hence Ino, to music and party supplies!"

"Oh kami! Naruto, you should go there and get them to set up the party!" Mikoto smiled brightly. "Thank you Inoichi-san!"

"I guess we get to visit my wife at her work you guys." Naruto smiled his foxy grin and began to walk off through the compound towards the business building located deep in the business section of Konoha.

It was a nice quiet trek towards the business sector of Konoha, despite the different street vendors trying to get the famous Kogane no ōji and the Aka Hime to buy their wares. Once at the destination though, the five were surprised to see such a simple but beautiful building.

It was a traditional pagoda type of structure but it had a wonderful garden and a fleet of carriages and carts for carrying their supplies. The group entered the store and found a large waiting area within the first few seconds of walking. At the front was a receptionist desk and two large doors that led to the presumed kitchen and assortment rooms for their different parties that they were probably catering for.

"Ah. Namikaze-sama." A voice said from behind.

'Kuro-chan?!' Naruto's eyes bulged slightly, but quickly calmed down when he looked behind to see a girl with the same face as Kurotsuchi but not the same eyes. He eased his tensed up muscles and bowed to the young woman.

The woman had her hair up in a bun with chopsticks going through it, kabuki styled. She had a small mole underneath her eye and she wore eyeglasses. Her eyes were a bright brown sprinkled with a light red of sorts. As for her attire, she wore a simple business blazer with high-heels and a businesswoman skirt. She looked extremely classy. In her hands was a suitcase.

"I am Satomi Muranaka; co-owner of this fine establishment." She bowed. "You honor me with your presence my Lord. Now, what are you here for? Is there a party that needs catering? A wedding you want planned?"

'Shit!' Kuro screamed. 'I didn't expect him to show up so damn fast! Thank Kami that I was able to hide and completely change my chakra signature…he would've seen through the guise so damn fast!'

"Ah-yes. After some last-minute changes of plans and a few difficulties with our original planned, caterers, we are left with no one to…"

"Say no more Namikaze-sama. I understand completely." Kurotsuchi smiled and led them to a large table and pulled out a binder from her suitcase at her side. She opened the binder and it came to reveal a massive assortment of foods, flowers, streamers, plates, silverware; it was ridiculous at just how customizable everything was.

'Now fall for the bait…and choose the ones that are most likely what you would choose for your buddy.' Kurotsuchi mentally chanted.

"That really huge cake right there." Naruto said with a smirk. He looked over to his best friend with a questioning look.

"I'm down with whatever you pick brother. Just don't choose anything stupid." Sasuke droned with a faint smirk on his lips. "This isn't your party. It's mine."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, teme." Naruto said with a laugh. "Is it possible to have a taste test of the cake?"

"Why of course my Lord." Kurotsuchi flashed a fake smile. "Just follow me."

They walked through the large hallways for a few minutes before getting led into a room filled with different cake variations with different flavor choices and combinations. Just the smell was enough to cause the four Namikaze present to drool.

'He's still as cute as ever though….' Kurotsuchi thought sadly. 'That damned Yamanaka harlot got lucky is all…Tch! Why do I still love him…?'

"So…you there?" Naruto asked while waving his hand in front of her face.

Kurotsuchi awoke from her thought induced stupor and looked at Naruto with a confused face. She then realized that her cheeks were burning hot and she was blushing up a storm, even though she tries her hardest not to. She looked with fearful eyes before turning away from Naruto and grabbing a sample of the nearest cake and shoving it into Naruto's mouth in an attempt to play it off.

'Too close…' Kuro thought.

"Wow!" Naruto smiled with his eyes shut tightly. "This is really good!"

'Huh?' Kuro looked behind her and stared at the cake sample she just gave him and held back a giggle. The cake was an experimental cake flavor called 'Ramen Delight'. 'Oh Naruto…wait…no…I just fucking realized that he'll be at the party!'

"Hey! Sasuke-nii! Can I please choose this flavor?!" Naruto asked with stars in his eyes. The Namikaze siblings then went ahead to try the cake and were immediately put under the same trance that their elder brother was in. Sasuke though growled and shook his head.

"Do you by any chance have anything tomato flavored?" Sasuke asked with a slight tinge to his cheeks. If there was anything that gave him an orgasmic overflow of emotions, it was tomatoes and hentai. Mainly tomatoes though.

"Why yes I do, Uchiha-sama." Kuro smiled and led them towards a large cake with a sample slice. Sasuke quickly grabbed a sample and scarfed the sample down his throat and made one loud and deep sounding gulp, that made a few of the people present gag slightly.

"Now that is delicious." Sasuke said looking at them with a slight chibi look to him. "Let's get both!"

"Ok. So when is the party?" Kurotsuchi asked with a notepad drawn out and a pen in her hand.

'Gah! I'm so stupid!' Naruto mentally laughed. "In two days…I'm so sorry that it's on such a short notice…"

"Nah. Don't worry Namikaze-sama!" Kurotsuchi again said with her fake smile plastered on her face. "We'll get to it immediately."

"Ok, now that the cake choosing is done, let's choose the actual foot and main course of the party for the people." Kaede laughed. "And after that, let's look at flowers and decorations with the help of Ino!"

**July 23rd, Sunday…eight p.m.**

With the work on the Uchiha compound coming up nice and smoothly, flowers, decorations and other important party like things were being moved through the main entrance and a few other side entrances. Some of the 'employees' marked the certain areas and entrances and exits with special chakra residue that only Iwa shinobi could sense.

"Ok, I want the flowers and such moved over to that side of the courtyard." Ino said as she directed the horde of men and women pushing carts and driving carriages into the courtyard for last minute decorations. She looked over to her right and flashed a loving smile to Naruto and walked off after giving directions to the rest of the workers.

Naruto himself was helping out with shadow clones, as was his twin. As it was, they had already gotten much of the party set up. All they had to do was move the food into place. On the opposite side, the company's birthday band was setting up. The strange thing was that there were more flutes and drums than strings. Actually, there was only one samisen set up on the stage, which was strange, since there's usually two or even three on stage. But it wasn't enough to be wary about.

Suddenly two extremely soft arms wrapped around Naruto's waist. Naruto gasped slightly but turned to face his wife and smiled brightly. He planted a small kiss on her forehead and rested his forehead on hers as he wrapped his arms around her waist as she trailed her arms up and around his neck. What they didn't notice was that Satomi Muranaka was watching quite subtly with a hurt expression on her face.

'She is so dead…' Kuro growled as she clenched her fists. Her anger was starting to affect the seal placed on her and it was messing with the power of the genjutsu. Kuro took a quick and deep breath before looking away and continuing with her duties as party planner. She was leading in equipment and the expensive silverware and tables and lights for the party. 'Doesn't matter…it's coming. It's almost time.'

Elsewhere in the compound, the Uchiha Itachi, a Golden Knight, was conversing with his longtime friend Uchiha Shisui. They were speaking about important information and extremely important people. Itachi was disturbed by the information. It turned out that it seemed that the Yougan-Hime and her brother the Jōki ōji had practically disappeared off the face of the elemental nations.

Itachi quickly shunshined off to speak to Kakashi. The second in command of the Golden Knights needed to know of the information. He charged through the hallways and found the hall he needed to get too, in the maze of a compound that he lived in. Suddenly, the lights went black and Itachi lost all control of his movements.

Once the lights came back on Itachi locked eyes with a familiar face. His eyebrows twitched when he realized what was happening.

"So…that's what all of this is…?" Itachi asked rhetorically, right before everything went black for the Uchiha prodigy child.

_Midnight…_

The festivities went according to plan. The entire Uchiha clan was present and the Senju clan was present. At one end of the courtyard sat the Royal Family sitting side by side with the Uchiha Head Family. Minato, the current Hokage sat with Kushina at his side with Mito and Arashi sitting next to her. On Minato's left sat Naruto and next to Naruto sat Ino, since Kaede was dancing with Sasuke in the center of the courtyard.

Sasuke was having the time of his life but something was bothering him. Where the hell was his brother?! Sasuke felt a small pang of hurt to his heart when his brother didn't show up for the opening of the party, but the Uchiha just sighed and probably thought that Itachi was just going to surprise him again.

But at least he was Kaede.

The Uchiha could honestly say that he was in love with the Namikaze-Senju girl. Her red hair entranced the boy like a sea of roses that flowed in the wind with a calm breeze blowing through the loose petals. The smell of Kaede's hair made the black haired Uchiha weak in the brain and calmed his senses. He really can say that he loves her.

Once the song ended everyone stood and began to clap for the couple in the center of the dance floor. Everyone thought that the music was over and that it was time for presents and final speeches, but the samisen player stood up and walked off the stage and began to play a melodramatic tune.

The guests had confused looks on their faces. Out of the corner of Naruto's eyes he noticed some of the caterers and employees that they hired tense up. He looked down at his drink and took another sip. Once he looked up the samisen player was already up to the head family table playing a soft tune, entrancing the Uchiha Matriarch, Mikoto. It was just then that Naruto realized what was happening.

"NO!" The boy screamed, but it was too late.

The samisen player flashed a quick half-ram hand seal and the samisen popped into a katana. The fake musician swung the katana and beheaded Mikoto in one fell swoop. All around the courtyard, the employees and workers popped into smoke and charged for the buzzed or drunk clansmen of the Uchiha and Senju.

Knives, swords and dagger's were drawn as the assassins dug their weapons into the off guard members of the clans. Uchiha were slaughtered left and right as blood was spattered across the party room. Suddenly an assassin came too close to the head table. Kushina was the first to strike, and punched the man so hard that he flew away, dead before he hit the ground.

The mother of four, straightened up, but suddenly felt lightheaded. Her nerves began to feel strange. She looked to see her children scared for their lives as a group of assassins surrounded her kids. She was too far, but good thing her husband was there. Minato flashed in front of the attackers and stabbed each and every one of them with quick repetition.

But even the great Yellow Flash of Konoha was affected by this strange ailment. He fell over and collapsed onto the floor. Kushina screamed in horror and charged for her fallen husband, but she was stopped by a giant man dressed in heavy armor with a furnace on his back. The most defining feature of his attire was the Iwa hitai-ate metal plate on his hat.

People were screaming and people were howling as the blades were forced into their bodies and slashed about. Men, Women and Children all faced the same fate; death. And a painful one at that. Kurotsuchi smiled slightly, but felt a small pang of guilt hit her heart. 'I've listened to Naruto-kun preach about world peace too much' Then her target was seen.

The Yamanaka Heiress, Yamanaka Ino, was being protected by three Naruto clones. The assassins battled it out with the already faltering Namikaze as he was starting to show weak points in his defense.

Just as the massacre was reaching its peak, the doors that lead to the main house of the compound, burst open to reveal a shirtless Itachi with scars all over his body. His eyes seemed to have been ripped from his head. He stumbled a bit before collapsing to his knees. Itachi was cried out, silencing the massacre.

"ITACHI!" Sasuke wailed.

So far, the youngest Uchiha, was barely able to process what was happening. His entire clan was being slaughtered in just one night. Even the Senju were suffering. But to see his mother get decapitated right in front of him, to see an arrow plunge deep into his father's forehead, but now to see his brother like this, it drove him over the edge. Tears were pouring down the Uchiha's face. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Sasuke! Get out of here!" Itachi screamed. "The Yama-"

_BOOM!_

Itachi exploded taking the main house with him. The building collapsed down onto the courtyard covering the dead bodies and killing a few of the assassins as well. Sasuke was now crying and screaming out, but no sound left his throat. He was being guarded by Hatake Kakashi and Maito Guy of the Kogane Kishi.

Naruto dodged a quick slash from an enemy shinobi and dug a kunai into the man's chest, cutting out his heart. But because of the slow acting poison in his system, he wasn't able to react fast enough, and took a ninjato to the chest, barely missing his heart. Naruto couldn't even cry out in pain since the attack forced the air from his lungs.

"Naruto!" Ino screamed.

The golden haired girl charged forward for her husband, but she didn't even make it halfway. A katana was stabbed through her left side and exited through her right. A thick trail of blood poured from her mouth as her eyes slowly trailed over to her assailant.

"K-Kurotsuchi Yamauchi?!" Ino gasped as Kuro stabbed the blade further into Ino's body.

"Indeed Yamanaka…Indeed." Kuro growled as she tore the blade from Ino's body. Already the assassins were exiting the area through the various exit points, but Kurotsuchi realized that she was missing someone. That someone happened to be her brother.

The courtyard was drenched in blood and piled high with bodies. Enemy and ally, but there were eight people still present. Kushina was willing herself to fight against Han, Minato was struggling to keep awake, Naruto was slowly bleeding out, Kaede was knocked out, and Sasuke was being protected along with Mito and Arashi.

"You're more beautiful than what the stories let on…Red Death…" Han drawled. "Despite having four kids…I wonder how your pussy feels…"

"You're going to have to kill me first then!" Kushina growled. Kushina cursed herself and her mouth. She was too weak to fight back. Han smirked and charged forward with chakra radiating off of his legs.

"No!" Minato screamed.

"KAA-CHAN!" Naruto screamed, but ended up coughing up blood.

**_Splash!_**

'THAT GODDAMN IDIOT!' Kurotsuchi cursed when she came to the scene.

Han stood with Kushina impaled by his large nodachi sword, emanating with steam release chakra. Kushina coughed and grunted out before Han unceremoniously wiped her off of his sword, like she was dirt. Kurotsuchi sucked up her anger and grabbed her brother's arm and began to pull him towards the main exit.

"Kuro-chan…?" Naruto groaned.

It was over.

* * *

**So tell me what you thought! **

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	4. A Broken Flame

**So this is the start of the new six-part Arc: The Road to Vengeance!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Wars(Just a reference)**

* * *

**Chapter 4: A Broken Flame**

**The Road to Vengeance Arc **

**Part I of VI**

** Three days later…**

Naruto laid in a hospital bed with a blank expression on his face and with a tube stuck down his throat. He looked at peace, but every now and then, his eye lids would wiggle and tighten, as if he were looking around. The poor Namikaze was under a heavy coma, with patches and bandages covering his sliced open chest. The night of the attack had ruined Naruto in more ways than one. Because of the time it took for the Hyuuga police to mobilize, Naruto had lost so much oxygen and blood to his brain that he was forced into a comatose state. He was put under extensive care for fifteen hours before he finally stabilized. He looked so peaceful and free of thought.

Unlike Kaede…

The redhead was sitting up in her bed with a picture of her mother and her on one of the days where it was just the two of them. The girl was experiencing a major battle between herself and her emotions. As it stands, her mother was dead, but she didn't know if she should go out there and avenge her elder brother and mother and father, for what has happened to their family and clan.

Her face was blank like her brothers, but instead of her body twitching, it would be the pupil in the center of her irides. It would sometimes elongate, but then it would go back to a circle. She tightened her grip on the picture in her tired hands. The faraway look never left her face as she continued to memorize her mother's facial features, red hair and beautiful violet eyes; her mother's smile, and her funny laugh. Kaede had placed up so many emotional barriers, but it seems that after being told about everything that has happened just the night before, she felt the walls of her emotions crumble.

Then the image of her mother's attacker flashed into her mind. The giant jinchuriki of Iwa, the Jōki no ōji. Kaede furrowed her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes. His red armor and sword, stained with her mother's own blood. The glass began to crack on the picture frame. Kaede heard the crack and shut her eyes to calm down. Kaede sighed and turned over to place her picture on the bedside table, before lying down to drift off back to sleep.

_With Minato…_

The Yellow Flash of Konoha, the man revered as the fastest man on earth, the most powerful man on earth, a God amongst Shinobi, but after the events of the night before, the young leader was distraught by the turn of events, and felt a great animosity for Iwa. He gripped his kunai so tight, that it was threatening to break and shatter. He glared at the Iwa hitai-ate sitting on his desk.

He had half of a mind to go to Iwa and slaughter everyone using the hiraishin, but he knew that wouldn't be what Kushina would have wanted. He growled in exasperation and lodged the kunai into the desk before collapsing onto the Hokage office seat. He took a deep breath and thought about his children. Naruto was in a near death-state, but Kaede was rendered unconscious, but thanks to his and his wife's efforts, Mito and Arashi were able to make it out, unscathed. Good thing the children weren't able to drink the alcohol.

Minato pinched his brow to calm his raging emotions. He looked up with tears building up in his eyes. He channeled chakra and flashed from the Hokage's office.

_At the hospital…_

Minato flashed into Naruto's room with a distraught look on his face. He looked down at his son as tears burst from his eyes. He looked down at the sleeping boy on the bed, but he wasn't able to get to the golden haired boy. Minato took Naruto's hand and gripped it tightly while saying a silent prayer. He looked over to see his daughter crying in her bed right behind him.

The man spun in his chair and took her right hand into his left and tightened his grip on his two children. His body shook as tears cascaded down his face. He was supposed to be the most powerful man in the world; he can save millions, but he can't even save his own family and close friends! Minato took a shaky breath as his emotions were thrown into haywire. His sobbing degraded and became a hysterical wail. All throughout this he was tightening his hold on his children's hands, not wanting to let them go.

_In Naruto's mindscape…_

"Kuro-chan…" Naruto's heart wrenched. "…how could you…"

His mind kept replaying the death of Ino, the sick emotion that Kuro displayed as she jammed the sword into his wife's side. He watched as blood poured from Ino's mouth and splayed across the floor below her.

"How could she…?" Naruto asked as tears began to trickle down his face.

"Naruto…" Kurama said softly. "You need to wake up and get around the village…this isn't healthy for you…"

"I know that!" Naruto shouted as tears cascaded down his whiskered cheeks. "I just…want to know why Kuro would do such a thing!"

"She's from Iwa kit!" Kurama shouted back. "They are nothing but hardheaded, conniving, liars, that only have friendships if there's something to gain from it…I'm sorry to tell you this kit, but you have been played for a fool by the Yougan-hime."

"I…" Naruto sighed knowing that the great fox was right after all. Naruto didn't reply and just looked away. He just couldn't understand why she'd do this.

"Let me rest some more…I just can't deal with the world right now…" And with that, the Namikaze shut off connection to the fox and lie down in the bed of his mindscape and let his mind within his mind, drift to sleep.

_Outside…_

Kaede glared at the floor in front of her. She looked through her memories and realized who the orchestrator of the entire operation was. Yamauchi Kurotsuchi.

Much to Naruto's displeasure, Kaede found out about his secret relationship with the Iwa Princess. Kaede then got that Naruto really loved the girl and she loved him too, but the situation that they were born into denied them the ability to express their emotions for each other. To Naruto's surprise, Kaede never brought it up again and never told their parents or friends.

But what really irked her, was the fact that it was Kurotsuchi that killed Ino. It was Kurotsuchi who was behind the scenes the entire time, and only came out when Ino was finally free from the protection of Naruto's clones. It was Kurotsuchi who didn't stop her brother from killing her mother. It was Kurotsuchi's own jealously of Naruto that brought the death of so many people. Or so Kaede thought. She sighed and looked over to her brother with a distraught expression on her face.

'I need to take a walk.' Kaede thought to herself.

She slid out of the bed and lifted her passed out father and tucked him into her bed and walked out of the hospital room doors. The nurses and doctors were vilified at her actions to leave, but she shook it off and left anyway. She was too low on chakra to use the hiraishin to get anywhere, and Yin Kurama was feeling too weak to refill her chakra reserves.

From what Yin Kurama told Kaede, was that Yang Kurama has been disrupted and can't heal his container anymore. Kaede sighed. The poison used by the assassins severed the connection between the chakra coils of Naruto to the chakra coils of the Yang Kurama. The only things the two can do now are talk to one another and use each other's chakra, but the healing factor was as good as gone.

The girl shook her head from the depressing thoughts and walked toward her favorite spot in the entire village; the park.

Once there, she plopped down onto the grass and stared aimlessly at the clear blue sky with a blank expression on her face. She was hurting deeply as another realization just hit her. Mito and Arashi are only three years old, and they watched as their sister-in-law, clansmen, and Mother get slaughtered in one night. Kaede couldn't fathom how they must feel right now. At least they were under protection by the Kogane Kishi, which Kaede is in command of since Naruto was unconscious.

She needed to find that bastard Han. She needed to get revenge. She needed to kill him. Tears formed in her eyes once more as she began to weep. She didn't know how Sasuke was as of yet since he was put under protection by ANBU and a few high ranking jounin's to make sure that Iwa doesn't send assassins again to kill him too.

"Tch." Kaede spat. "Those Iwa bastards are gunna pay…especially Yamauchi Han…"

"Especially Yamauchi Han."

Kaede growled slightly and shot to her feet. She felt reinvigorated and powerful. Energy was surging through her body as she found her purpose. She was going to kill the son of the Tsuchikage with or without her brother's or father's permission. With or without a team, she was going to make Han's death a reality. Then she was going to go after Kurotsuchi.

Kaede dashed off for the nearest training ground and started off her training with three hundred push-ups, despite just coming out of the hospital. She felt sore, but she knew that her brother was doing worse, he wasn't even awake. She felt her muscles rip and her nerves break down, but she knew that Sasuke was doing worse; his entire family was murdered before his eyes in one night. She felt her will break, but she knew her father was doing worse; the Love of his life was killed right in front of him.

'I can't let anyone down.' Kaede told herself over and over again. 'I can't let them suffer any longer.'

Once Kaede finished her three hundred push-ups, she took off in a full sprint around the village taking many laps on foot since she didn't have enough chakra for practicing ninjutsu or genjutsu. She couldn't even practice with Yin Kurama, since her chakra coils were damaged as well, but not as bad as Naruto's. All she needed to do was give her some time before doing ninjutsu.

As she came to a halt, she realized that she needed a sparring partner for taijutsu. She jogged into the training ground to see a team of ANBU standing around looking for her. The redheaded beauty dashed from the trees and charged at the ANBU agents and sent a fist into one's face, breaking off his crow mask.

"Think of this as training boys!" Kaede called out as she leg swept another ANBU. This ANBU had a stag mask on his face.

The bear masked ANBU charged at Kaede, but she easily dodged his attack and sent a kick to the base of his spine, knocking him to the ground below. She jumped up and drop kicked the final ANBU who wore a lion's mask. The ANBU were terrified of the girl and called in a few more agents to help out. Kaede only smirked.

She weaved in between each attack and sent a few well-placed punches and continued to hold her own against the ANBU and knock out at least eight of them, leaving ten to still deal with. She jumped and kicked one back, while she lodged her fist into the right temple of an ANBU, knocking both away, while keeping her safe from any attacks from either side.

A tiger masked ANBU charged at her, and she caught his tanto wielding wrist and twisted, causing the agent to squeal in pain. She kicked the man away and engaged against another masked shinobi. Once she closed the distance, she lodged her elbow against his face and floored the shinobi, causing him to cry in pain. Behind Kaede though, a cat masked female ANBU charged from behind with her katana drawn.

Kaede spun around and evaded the attack and kicked the ANBU in the back and sent her flying towards another ANBU. The redhead jumped away and landed on a tree branch and sent a flurry of shuriken and kunai towards her opponents. The shinobi blocked and evaded the kunai without looking at the type. Kaede smirked and popped her neck.

'Hiraishin no jutsu!' The girl vanished in a flash of light and reappeared behind one of the ANBU and punched his back, she flashed once more and kicked another, but it was so fast no one could tell what was going on. She may not have been as fast as her brother or father, but she was still pretty fast.

Just as she was coming to her final opponent, there was a small glint in the corner of her eye. She drew out a kunai and blocked the strange looking kunai. It was a lot like the kunai blades, where only one side was sharpened. That kunai blew off her three-pronged kunai.

The ANBU and Kaede narrowed their eyes at the blank faced ANBU that stood before them. It sure looked like a Konoha shinobi, but there was no sign showing that it was of Konoha. Kaede nodded at two of the ANBU; bear and lion. The two took a cautious pace towards the newcomer. They drew out their tanto's as they examined the opponent.

But before they could attack, the blank faced ANBU, charged and slashed through the masks, killing bear and lion in less than a second. Blank-face turned to face tiger and horse. Tiger charged forward with his ninjato drawn, but blank-face dodged and punched tiger in his spine. Horse sped through hand seals, and sent off a grand fireball towards the newcomer. Just as the fireball came within a few centimeters, blank-face popped into a puff of smoke and replaced himself with a log.

The man reappeared behind horse. The man stabbed a kunai blade that he pulled from practically nowhere, and stabbed the blade through the ANBU's spine and forced it out the front of the man's torso. Blank-face tore the blade from horse's body and kicked him down like he was trash. Three more ANBU attacked, but they each suffered the same fate.

"Kaede-sama…stay back and let-" Neko began to say, but Kaede shook her head. The cat masked ANBU could easily say; this is the scariest that Kaede has ever been seen.

Her hair seemed to glow with an ominous color, as if she had chakra coils in her hair. Her bangs overflowed and flittered down to cover her eyes in a dark shade. Her once bright blue eyes were glowing with a blood red tint. Her chakra flared and her whisker marks darkened. Her canines elongated making her seem more terrifying than what she intended.

"I'm sorry, Neko…but you'll all have to stay back for this one…" Kaede whispered before she took off with a super burst of speed.

With chakra coming off her legs and body, she closed the distance between herself and her opponent. Once she did, she rammed her fist into his gut and followed it up with another punch to the man's throat. She spun on the heel of her foot and sent a roundhouse kick into his face, shattering his mask, while sending him flying.

She hurled a kunai at him expecting it to miss, but the three-pronged kunai fit snugly in his kunai pouch. Kaede smirked at her luck and vanished only to reappear behind him. She kneed the mask-less ANBU and sent him flying once more. She vanished once more and for the next few minutes, it was like a game of Ping-Pong with the man acting as the Ping-Pong ball. Just as he was about to smack with her once more, she had drawn out her hiraishin kunai from his kunai pouch and channeled her chakra through the main blade, turning it into a blade of chakra.

Just before the man collided with her, she lodged her kunai into his gut and slashed out, slicing the man in half. His intestines spilled free from his body as he began to die. Kaede growled at the man and realized that he wasn't of Konoha. His facial structure was different than from the people of Konoha. She wanted to test her hypothesis and dug her hand into his body and began to sift and dug through his internal organs, until she felt his heart.

Her eyes were still glowing with the power of Kurama. She looked him straight in the eye before she tore his heart out; making sure that she was the last thing he saw, before he was sent to hell. She pulled the heart free from his body and held the still, somewhat beating heart and examined the organ. Her anger only piqued when she found what she was looking for.

There was a small Iwa symbol carved into the aorta of the heart. That man was an Iwa assassin. From what she knew, there were two different types of ANBU in Iwa; The normal ANBU and Ganban Agents. The Ganban Agents were a lot like Konoha's ROOT, but…they were…worse. Ganban Agents were devoted to the cause. So devoted that each member must carve into his own heart the symbol of Iwa using only chakra. Many wouldn't be able to take the pain, while others…like the one she just finished off, lose their humanity and their sanity.

Kaede dropped the heart and sealed it into a scroll. ANBU were healing those wounded and were moving the dead from the training ground. The redhead sighed at her predicament. She looked up to the sky and saw dark clouds on the horizon. Kaede sighed once more…something is coming. Something big; very big.

_A week later…_

Kaede was standing in front of her father. The blond Hokage sat on the throne with his parents standing behind him. Tsunade, the former third Hokage, was at his left while, Jiraiya was at his right. Minato's face was blank and it seemed like he hasn't had sleep for a few days. Large eye bags were visible. His once vibrant blue eyes were dull and seemed to be lifeless. His daughter looked at him with a frown, but Minato didn't say a thing. As much as he loved his village and his job, he loved his wife more. He loved his family more, he loved his clan more, but now most of them were dead and his son, his first born, was still in a coma.

Kaede took a deep breath and sighed. She walked up to her father and gave him a tight hug. Minato barely looked at his daughter, and kept his eyes planted on the floor beneath him. The girl relinquished her hold on her father and turned away and headed for the front door. Once out, she headed towards the mission assignment office at the Shinobi Administration building and went to the Jounin Commander. The commander in charge for the day was Nara Shikaku.

"Shikaku-san." Kaede said as she entered the assignment room. There were chunin and jounin walking around and sifting through scrolls and creating new missions. "I need you to help me make an assignment."

"For whom is it to be assigned to?" Shikaku asked.

"To me." Kaede said. "It is to be triple S ranked."

"What?" Shikaku gasped in surprise. "Are you sure? Your brother is still in the hospital and your father is barely coping-"

"Shut up and do as you're ordered Nara!" Kaede shouted in exasperation.

There was an awkward silence that quickly followed; a few gasps were heard though as every shinobi present looked with wide eyes. Shikaku's eyes were wide with hurt. Never had Kaede ever pulled rank or family name when she asked for something. Even if she was in command, she'd never do something so degrading. Kaede was literally one of the kindest people to walk this earth, but even the nicest people have a breaking point. Shikaku sighed and nodded at Kaede. The redhead took a deep breath and gave him a sad smile and apologized.

"Now come with me." Shikaku said as he led her to his personal office. Shikaku channeled chakra onto the walls, completely silencing the room from the outside world. No one can hear what is going on. He sat down at his desk and rolled open an empty scroll and took out a calligraphy brush and ink. "So. What are the mission parameters? Objective? Targets? Payment?"

"Mission Parameters: Time limit is undefined, this is a solo mission. Objective is to eliminate the conspirators of the Uchiha/Senju massacre." Shikaku's ears perked slightly. "Target(s): Yamauchi Han and his top subordinates and the highest commanders of Ganban."

"The only payment I will accept is their spilt blood." Kaede growled.

"This is just legalized revenge!" Shikaku shouted. "I can't allow this!"

"But you will Shikaku. You fucking will." Kaede growled. "I can't let that bastard and his lackeys walk so freely throughout the world and wreak havoc and force more families and people to suffer like Sasuke, and my own family! My brother is still in a coma! My father hasn't said a thing for more than a week! My younger siblings have been traumatized since that night! They don't talk, they lost their light, they don't fucking smile anymore! They're just children! I can't allow their treachery continue!" Kaede slammed her fists on Shikaku's desk. "I HAVE TO KILL THEM!"

To get her point across, she flared her bijuu's chakra and forced the power to her eyes, causing them to change into their blood-red state. Shikaku shrunk in his seat as the killing intent became so great, that he began to sweat bullets in fear. Kaede shrunk her chakra back and glared at the Nara clan head.

"If this is what you wish to do…" Shikaku sighed. "Then I won't stop you…"

"Thank you…Shikaku-san." Kaede turned and headed out of the door.

"I'll notify-" Before Shikaku could finish, the girl flashed away. "Tch. Mendokusai."

_With Kaede…_

The redhead sat on a stool in her favorite restaurant; Ichiraku Ramen. She was chowing down on her fifteenth bowl of ramen. As much as she hated it, she just had to have the same appetite as her brother. It's not that she didn't love Ramen, which she did; she just wanted to have some restraint of it, unlike her mother and brother. Kaede let out a small laugh from the memory and shook her head. She dug her chopsticks into the luscious noodles and slurped them up before slapping down a wad of ryo notes and heading out of the restaurant towards the ANBU headquarters to speak with a few of the ANBU commanders.

She calmly strolled through the headquarters and walked through the main doors and found the commanders barracks. She scratched the back of her neck and knocked on a door that read Uzuki Yūgao. Kaede entered the room after Yūgao allowed her in. The redhead sat in the chair adjacent to the purple haired woman's own.

"Yūgao…I need to ask a favor of you." Kaede said.

"What is it?" Yūgao asked her favorite student.

"I need you to call and pool in information about the Kuroi Manto and the highest ranking Ganban Agents." Kaede asked. "I want to know their schedules, their daily routines; I want to know everything, down to their sandal size."

"Why?" Yūgao asked. "Not saying that I can't do it…I just want to know why…"

"I'm going to kill them." Kaede said. "It's a mission that I devised along with the help of Shikaku. A war is going to happen soon between us and Iwa, so why not get rid of the V.I.S's before the war begins, right?"

"Or are you just seeking vengeance?" Yūgao asked.

"What does it matter?" Kaede growled.

"This is not how I taught you. Vengeance will only corrupt you…" Yūgao replied. Kaede was about to protest, but Yūgao raised her hand and quieted the kunoichi princess. "But since you are my Princess, I must abide to your command."

"Thank you, Yūgao-sensei. I won't let Konoha down." Kaede turned to leave, but stopped and looked at her former teacher. "Any pointers or people to start off on?"

"Indeed I do." Yūgao sighed. The woman tossed the princess a black scroll labeled _Kuroi Manto (Han)_. Kaede gasped when she realized that there is a Kuroi Manto unit for both Kurotsuchi and Han. The redheaded Namikaze smiled and walked from the office with a thoughtful look on her face. The girl flashed away and reappeared in her bedroom.

She plopped onto her bed and opened up the scroll and found nearly twenty different shinobi profiles. Each member she read ranged from powerful, to over-bearing; with Yamauchi Han at the top. The girl examined each person and chose her first target. A low leveled member of the Kuroi Manto named Terumoto Ishida. Kaede examined his facial expression and facial features down the minutest detail.

_Ishida Terumoto_

_Age: 30_

_Gender: Male_

_Height: 5'10_

_Weight: 230 lbs._

_Hair color: Black_

_Eye color: Green_

_Blood Type: AB+_

_Element: Explosion Release_

_Rank: High Jounin level, Black Cloak Lieutenant_

_ He is a highly volatile and violent man, prone to outbursts and random sprouts of anger. He is also prone to bribery and alcohol. Lots of alcohol. Spends a great deal of the money he makes from missions and from being a part of the Kuroi Manto, in bars, getting wasted and drunk. His favorite drink is Suntory Yamazaki 18 Whiskey. He normally drinks eight shots before moving on to sake. _

'That is his weakness.' Kaede thought to herself. 'No wonder he's such a lowly Manto.'

_Frequent Locations:_

_-Ganban Headquarters_

_-ANBU Administration Building_

_-The Cracked Stone Pub_

_-Shadowed Rock Pub_

_-Mountainous Soil Pub_

'Goddamn it…how many pubs does this guy fucking go to?!' Kaede thought in exasperation. "This guy's nothing but a drunk-fuck. This'll be too easy."

_-Tsuchikage Palace_

_-Kamizuru Palace_

_-Random streets of the five villages of Iwagakure. _

_-Hidden Stone nightclub_

_Misc.: Because of his paranoia, he doesn't take the same way home, so it is nearly impossible to actually track him down, unless you stalk him throughout the city itself. Streets in Iwa are confusing and maze-like, unless you know where you're going. Terumoto usually heads home, but stops at the Hidden Stone nightclub and parties throughout the night and returns home wasted or wakes up on the street. _

"Wow…" Kaede finished reading the specifics of her target and shook her head in disgust. "What a waste of talent."

_Three weeks later…_

Kaede left the village after bidding her unresponsive father and kissing her comatose brother on the forehead goodbye for the time being. Minato didn't know about the true specifics of the mission, but since he didn't talk much anymore, he didn't really express the need for information. Her younger siblings, Mito and Arashi were waving her goodbye with their sensei Orochimaru.

The elder sister walked away and slowly broke into a steady sprint. She jumped high and took to the trees with a bit of chakra in each step, the girl flew farther and farther, closing the distance between Konoha and Iwa a lot faster than what it could normally take. Once she felt that she was a sufficient distance away she slowed her speed and took in the sights of Hi no Kuni.

In the distance great mountains towered over the blue hue of a horizon. Green trees and great wondrousness of nature surrounded her. She watched as monkey jumped with her through the trees and on branches. She dipped underneath a low branch and grabbed onto it and swung around before shooting forward using her current momentum to her advantage.

When she landed though, she landed in a feeding frenzy. Wolves were gorging on a dying stag. The stag was alone, but it tried to fight back. Kaede sneered and charged forward, with her katana drawn. With one great swoop, the Alpha was decapitated. The other wolves quickly ran off into the forest. Kaede looked down at the dying stag and frowned. The poor thing tried to stand but it gave her a look that said 'leave me be'. Kaede couldn't let the poor animal die in pain, so she took her weapon and jammed it into the stag's skull, putting it out of its misery.

She then realized that the stag could be used for food later on so she sealed up the corpse in a scroll and took off through the forest once more. She dodged falling leaves and breaking branches, flying birds and met up with the occasional shinobi team going about on C-A ranked missions. She dashed through the Land of Fire at a good pace and was already close to the border with still an hour of daylight remaining before she entered Ame no Kuni, the border nation between Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni.

She came to a grinding halt and started setting up in the forest. Her tent was put up by a shadow clone while two other shadow clones went off for firewood and to gather extra food. All of this while Kaede sat down to meditate and practice her poisons and summoning contract with both the snakes and toads. Much to everyone's surprise, the girl had taken a liking to snakes because of their versatility and ability to secrete various venoms and poisons, the same could be said about the toads.

She was now testing which poison would be more suited for Terumoto. The whiskey could dilute and kill off the venom and poison, so she had to be careful and choose her style of kill very carefully. She could also, always just go with the traditional tag-and-snag approach. She then snapped her fingers and smiled at her revelation. All she had to do now was get information of where the bastard is.

After eating a nice dinner of rice and stag meat, she was now lying in her sleeping bag in her tent while holding a picture of just her mother and her brother. The two of them seemed so alike, minus the obvious differences. Naruto had his mother's eyes and face and even her attitude while, Kaede got her mother's hair and the rest is her fathers. She traced her fingers over the picture and said a soft prayer and made a quiet promise to her brother and mother that she'd get revenge. She'll avenge the entire massacre by herself if she has to.

"Goodnight mother…goodnight nii-san…I love you guys…" Kaede yawned before drifting off to sleep with a team of shadow clones standing guard outside of her tent.

Kaede awoke from a wonderful dream where, her mother was still alive and her brother was awake to join her on her mission. Her life seemed brighter and more vibrant. She looked around to only be disappointed at the fact that it was all just a dream. Her heart wrenched at the feeling of knowing that it was really how it was going to be.

Suddenly from out of the blue, a messenger hawk swooped down the forest canopy and glided into Kaede's tent and perched itself onto her shoulder. Attached to its leg was a small scroll with the symbol of Konoha's ANBU. Kaede quickly detached the message and unraveled the scroll. With her bright blue eyes scanning over the message, a bright smile spread across her face.

'He's near…' Kaede smiled.

_In Amegakure…_

A safe haven for missing ninja, foreign shinobi, criminals, or just al-round douche-bags. Amegakure was home to anyone, especially the great string of nightclubs and strip clubs. Such as the famous Hidden Stone Nightclub for resting Iwa shinobi, or rich Iwa shinobi, such as those that are a part of the Kuroi Manto. On this specific night in Amegakure, the people were holding a major celebration on the streets. A large indoor festival was taking place. People were drinking and partying and enjoying their time, especially one super buzzed Iwa shinobi with a black breastplate.

On top of the breast plate was a bright metal plate that had the Iwa symbol etched deeply to show off his pride. On his back was a large cleaver sword. In his right hand was a bottle of whiskey, in his other hand was a bottle of tequila. In his arms was a beautiful brunette and a beautiful blonde. Both girls were voluptuous and downright sexy, but they were also prostitutes. They man had a slight wobble to each step he took. His head drooped and shook as he walked farther and farther. Not only was he losing his concentration, but the hookers were also stealing his money.

Kaede was henged as a busty brunette hostess and smirked at the man's carelessness and walked over to the hookers and slapped their hands away from his pockets. The prostitutes looked at the woman in anger and nearly had an outburst, until Terumoto himself, told the prostitutes off. He looked at Kaede with a small lecherous smirk.

"Can I get you a seat sir?" Kaede asked with a small smile.

She was dressed in a very revealing outfit that was required for the hostesses and waitresses of the club. Open shirts that revealed a little too much for comfort and very short shorts that seemed to accentuate her ass a bit much. Terumoto had a small trail of drool coming from his drunken mouth. She placed a hand on his shoulder. Not that anyone would notice since his clothes were so black, but Kaede had subtly placed a hiraishin seal on his shoulder. She carefully sat the man down into a stool and pulled out a shot glass for the man.

"Fun night huh?" Kaede asked.

"You have no idea baby…" Terumoto slurred. "How about me and you…have some of our own fun…back at my place?" The man reached forward and groped her right breast, causing Kaede to gasp in surprise. She blushed not from being aroused, but from embarrassment, not that Terumoto would tell. Kaede quickly slapped his hand away with a playful smirk.

'Play along…get him alone…get the information.' Kaede put on her nicest smile and gave him a playful look. "Maybe we should…"

"Thank you for the drinks lovely lady." Terumoto sounded like he had just sobered up. "Here's my address." The man then took off with the speed of light in his feet.

Kaede looked dumbfounded but shook it off and headed out of the festival and into the rain. There were hundreds of people just walking about and through the rain and continuing their daily business. She found a secluded alleyway and hiraishined to Terumoto's position and stayed a few meters away. She dispelled the henge to reveal a beautiful redhead with the same bust but with grey armor over her clothes. She followed her target with silence and precision.

She looked back into her memories and found that this was the address that Terumoto had written down onto the paper. It was a large penthouse with Iwa shinobi posted at all entrances and exits. There were four at the front door, and at the least ten on the roof. At random intervals in the windows, there would be an Iwa infantryman waiting and watching the street below.

"It seems that this is going to be easier than I thought." Kaede smiled. She walked away and disappeared into the crowds of people before Terumoto could notice her chakra signature. But once he did, it was too late. The girl was already gone.

_At her hotel…_

Kaede hiraishined to her hotel room and looked at the wall that was adorned with pictures. Threads were stretched from Han to every person and picture on the wall. One by one, she was trying to find their common place and connections with each other, other than just the Kuroi Manto or the Ganban. The grand prize was Han, which would lead to the grandest of all prizes; Kurotsuchi.

Kaede walked over to the wall and examined each persona and looked through their files and accolades. She sifted through their personal lives and family members. She had done a great deal of research, and all she had so far was Terumoto. The lowest member of the Kuroi Manto. As it was, she was still at least twenty targets to go, until she got to Han.

She sighed in exasperation and plopped onto her bed and flipped out a picture of her mother and brother. Their smiling faces were there looking at her and they seemed to be wishing her luck. She missed her brother's voice; she missed her mother's laugh. She wasn't going to let this go, even if somehow she gave up on her vendetta, she will never forget what they had taken from her.

'Kurotsuchi fucking loved him…' Kaede growled. "But she fucking nearly had him killed…and now he won't wake up…I swear I'm going to love killing that bitch."

Kaede sighed in exasperation and laid back down into her bed and shut her eyes to rest. The different ways of killing the one who wronged her twin came up in different ways. Each way brutal and very fitting for what the girl had done.

_The next night…_

Kaede appeared at the front of Terumoto's hotel and showed them the guards the paper that Terumoto had given her and they let the busty brunette through. She was mentally seething because of their disrespect towards her body and their constant leering, but she knew it was all just a part of the mission. Certain things had to be done for the sake of the mission and the sake of success. Once she got to the stairs, she was suddenly stopped by two Iwa shinobi.

"Identification." The larger man said.

"I don't have identification." Kaede replied. "I was invited here by Terumoto. Here…hey!" The larger of the two shinobi, grabbed her little paper and tore it in half. He spat on the halves and threw them on the floor.

"You're not passing unless you have the proper identification." The larger shinobi said with a gruff voice.

The smaller shinobi then whispered something in the larger man's ear and the larger man nodded in agreement. Kaede shook her head since she heard them with her advanced hearing ability. She brought her hands to the bottom of her shirt and began to lift. The two shinobi were blushing madly as Kaede brought it up to the bottom of her breasts and to where the lumps could be seen. Kaede lifted her shirt all the way allowing her large breasts to pop out and bounce slightly.

"Happy?" Kaede asked with a growl. The two Iwa shinobi nodded and stepped out of her way. Kaede pulled down her shirt and stomped up the stairs.

_At the penthouse level…_

Kaede knocked on the door and was quickly let in by two more Iwa shinobi. Once inside, all she could see were women, more women and men with black cloaks. There were at last ten men with black cloaks, but there were only three that she recognized. Upon entering, she subtly made twenty shadow clones and sent them throughout the penthouse, especially to the second floor to deal with whatever problem there may be.

There was a second floor to the penthouse with an indoor balcony covering the first floor. Metal railings kept people from falling off the side, and it also made a great way to execute someone. Kaede made sure to keep a note of that. It also had a great vantage point to hurl hiraishin kunai if needed, to quickly erase the problem in front of her. But back to the three members that she recognized. Their names were Terumoto, Takei Akeno and Tao Mareo. She looked at them with confused faces at first. But then the names came shooting back into her memories.

_Akeno Takei_

_Age: 29_

_Gender: Male_

_Height: 6'2"_

_Weight: 213 lbs._

_Hair color: Brown_

_Eye color: Black_

_Blood type: B+_

_Element: Lava_

_Rank: High Level Ganban Agent, Black Cloak Lieutenant_

_ He is powerful and intellectually advanced compared to most of the members of his unit. Despite being an intellectual, he is easily chided and easily roused by the simplest of insults. He is highly proficient in his kekkei genkai and he doesn't take his opponents for granted. He is an honorable foe, despite being a part of the Kuroi Manto (Han)._

_Frequent Locations:_

_-The Graveyard of Heroes in Iwagakure_

_-The Tsuchikage Palace_

_-ANBU/Ganban Headquarters_

_-Ganban Administration Building_

_-Training Ground 15 of Iwagakure (A.K.A: The Rock Rain lands)_

_-Hidden Stone nightclub_

_Mareo Tao_

_Age: 19_

_Gender: Male_

_Height: 6'1"_

_Weight: 210 lbs._

_Hair Color: Black_

_Eye Color: Black_

_Blood Type: O_

_Element: Strong Fire Affinity_

_Rank: High jounin level, Black Cloak Lieutenant_

_ Not much is known, except that he is extremely powerful with fire release techniques. He is fast and quick and can speed through fire jutsu with no time at all. He is also one of the youngest members of the Kuroi Manto._

_Frequent Places:_

_-Anywhere Akeno and Terumoto go_

'So…this is where it begins huh?' Kaede took a deep breath and continued on receiving stares and weird looks from the people present. 'I could always back out…'

"No!" Kurama shouted from within. "You have gone too far to back out! Just remember; once you've started…"

'There's no turning back…' Kaede replied. 'It's time to start my path…this is what has to be done right?' The girl asked rhetorically.

"Hey! I see you've made it!" Terumoto walked up to Kaede and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. The thing that bothered her was that his hand was a little too wandering. Some of the black cloaks were looking at here with interested expressions, while others marveled at her beauty. "I was wondering if you were going to make it or not. You know…the rain can get pretty hectic."

"Yeah. I've lived here my whole life you know." Kaede replied as she plopped down onto one of the leather seats. "So what brings you here?"

"Just taking a vacation is all." Terumoto replied with a smirk. "Just finished a mission with my two comrades; Takei and Tao. Come over here guys!"

"What is it Teru?" Takei asked as he sat down with a whiskey bottle in his hand. Tao followed suit and sat on the other side of Terumoto. The boy examined Kaede with a confused and calculating look as if he was questioning what he was looking at. He narrowed his eyes and looked away from Kaede.

'Fuck! I think he saw through my genjutsu and seals!' Kaede thought in horror. 'I guess I'll have to go to Plan B!'

"Well then beautiful." Teru started. "What drink-?"

Kaede suddenly grabbed Terumoto by his head and smashed his face into the glass table in front of him and crashed his head through the top, embedding small shards of glass into his head. Tao jumped back and sent a few blasts of fire that Kaede easily blocked and slapped away. She charged for the two men and slapped them across the face, while implanting invisible hiraishin seals on their cheeks.

Women were screaming and running out of the penthouse while shinobi and black cloaks were walking about with their weapons drawn. They glared at her as Takei and Tao joined up with the rest of the security detail.

"I'm here for three people. Terumoto, Takei and Tao." Kaede said with a powerful voice. "The rest of you can leave and I won't bother you."

"She doesn't even know who we are!" One of the Iwa shinobi laughed. "We're the Kuroi Manto! The personal army of Yamauchi Han, the Grand Prince-"

"Of Iwa…blah, blah, blah." Kaede smirked. Many Iwa shinobi growled at the blatant show of disrespect. "Listen Hun, do I look like I give a damn?"

Before they could reply, she vanished in a flash of light and punched Takei and Tao at the same time within the same second. It looked like there were two attackers. It happened so fast that many of the black cloaks shivered in fear of what was to come. Kaede quickly grabbed her targets and threw them towards the unconscious Terumoto and caused the three of them to pile up on each other. What no one noticed was the sealing scroll beneath them. Kaede sent them a small smile and dispelled her genjutsu just as the three high ranking lieutenants were sealed within the scroll. The scroll suddenly rolled itself back up and beneath the scroll was a hiraishin kunai attached to Kaede through chakra strings. With a quick flash of hand seals, the scroll was suddenly wrapped in seal matrices, and was sucked into the kunai.

"I-I-It's the Aka hime!" One of the Kuroi Manto minions shouted in fear. "She's out for revenge!"

"Oh. Indeed I am." Kaede sneered. She raised her hand and suddenly ten Kuroi Manto members were slung over the second floor with rope tied around their necks. The ten in front of her were horrified but they turned to head in the other direction, but ten more Kuroi Manto members fell down with rope tightly wrapped around their necks.

"It's time to die."

* * *

**A/N: This is when things get really dark. So you have been warned. You may skip if you wish**

* * *

_Ten minutes later…Kaede's hotel room…_

She flashed into the room with a scroll with tools sealed within it. The scroll had a Philips head and flat head screwdriver, a chakra-fed drill, pliers, jumper cables, a hammer and some rusty nails, a cheese grater, a spiked mallet, a thick towel, a washboard, some sand paper, three chairs, a bench and buckets. She turned on the lights and headed off to the main room of the hotel, happy that she got the biggest room they had. There were five rooms, each one was empty if you wanted it to be.

She was pretty happy that she put silencing seals all over the hotel room. She didn't want the authorities to know of what she was about to do. She was going to have a field day; good thing she picked up a lot by learning from Anko and Ibiki at the T&I Division of Konoha. She felt her heart beat knowing that that it was going to be her first step to the ultimate goal.

She walked into the first room to see shadow clones standing next to a chained up and sealed Terumoto. He hand a massive array of seals drawn onto his body and on the floor around him. He couldn't talk but he sure was going to be able to scream. The seals negated his ability to move, but kept his ability to breathe and feel pain. The clones grabbed the man to his feet.

Small pieces of glass were still embedded in his skin with large trails of blood flowing from his forehead down to his jawline. His breaths were hard and low. He was too afraid to look at Kaede for fear of what she would do. In her hands were a hammer and a few rusty nails. His heartbeat rose when he saw the whisker marks and the electric blue eyes glaring into his soul. He knew who it was. He was the one who knocked her out. How could he forget the powerful red hair that she had.

"Namikaze Kaede…" Terumoto grunted.

"So you can talk now." Kaede said as she began to pace slowly. "Good. I will require that you give me information about certain members of your group, namely; Yamauchi Han, and the one who stabbed my brother through the chest!"

"I'll NEVER-"

_Splash!_

"GAHHH!" Terumoto howled in pain. He looked to see his right hand was stretched out with the first nail stabbed through it and into the wall, well at least the tip. "What are you doing?!"

"Getting information." Kaede said darkly. "I have Tao and Takei prisoner too. And by the way, scream and squeal all you want. No one will hear you. I have placed silencing seals all over the room and windows, even the fucking roof. No one will hear outside of this hotel room."

"I swore an oath of secrecy!" Teru screamed at Kaede.

"Wrong answer." Kaede hammered the nail deeper into his hand. The rust sending contaminants into his body as it rubbed with his ruptured veins and arteries. He grunted in pain but then the hurt subsided. He looked at Kaede with fire burning in his eyes.

"You can try to cast a jutsu or whatever, but I've sealed off your chakra coils." Kaede said just as Teru took a deep breath. "Now then. Do you want to continue being resistant, or do you want to finally divulge the information that I want."

"I don't care you whore!" Terumoto spat onto Kaede's face. Her clones bashed the man in his gut and chest with metal tonfa and forced his head against the wall, drawing blood.

"I guess I'll have to move on to the main course. " Kaede sighed in disappointment. She took out the Philips screwdriver and took out a few screws and put one to the man's open palm.

He started struggling as tears formed in his eyes. The clones were holding his head up as he struggled to keep his palm closed. The other clone was forcing his fingers open while Kaede imbued chakra into the screw. Another shadow clone was formed and punched Terumoto in his lower abdomen, causing him to weaken his grip.

His hand opened up and Kaede rammed the screw into his palm and began to turn the bolt into his skin. Skin was torn and deformed and twisted as she herself twisted his wrist with each rotation of the screwdriver. Teru howled in pain but still deigned from saying anything. Blood was pouring from his hands and from his mouth.

One of her clones lifted the man's head up and bashed it into the wall once more. This time, his scalp was pressed against the wall with his neck showing. Kaede took her longest nail and put it against his Adam 's apple and held the head of the hammer against the nail head.

"Now. This is your last chance." One of her clones said.

"You were wrong to think that you're worth something to the Kuroi Manto." Another growled.

"You're expendable. I've read up on your history and personal life." The last clone spoke in a condescending tone. "You have lived a worthless and immoral life. You are a textbook definition of a waste of talent and space, so do yourself a favor and give us the information we want."

"Never…bitch." Kaede shook her head in disgust with his reply.

"I gave you a chance." The girl raised her hand and rammed the entire nail into his throat and into the wall, nailing his body to the wall of the room. His eyes were wide as blood began to clog up his trachea and esophagus. Blood poured from his mouth like a water fall and dripped onto the floor beneath him. His head twitched as he began to mumble an incoherent prayer of sorts. His eyes suddenly dilated and rolled to the back of his head. "I guess it's time to move on to the next two. I guess I should check on Takei."

She left the room with the dead man still nailed to the wall and left her clones to deal with his body. She picked up one of the towels sitting on a couch and wiped her hands and forearms clean of the blood and calmly walked into one of the other rooms. Once she opened the door, the overbearing scent of blood bombarded her nose and nearly had her keeling over to hurl.

Sealed to a chair in the center of the room was a shirtless man, howling in pain as three Kaede's sat around him skinning him piece by piece, inch by inch. A cheese grater was being used to peel off the skin of his right arm, a washboard used to scrape jeans and dirty clothing was peeling off his skin from his torso, and the sand paper was being used to tear off skin from his left arm. He howled and screamed for his life, but to no avail. The only parts of his body that still had skin were his neck and his face.

"Stop." Kaede said. The clones dropped their tools and backed away from Takei. The man was gasping for breath. The seals were embedded into his skin and flesh with kanji marks engraved in his revealed muscles. "Now…tell me what I want to know."

"Where is Yamauchi Han?! And who is the one that stabbed my brother?!" Kaede shouted.

"I can tell you who stabbed your brother…but…I don't know where Han-sama…is…" Takei moaned in pain. His breath was slow and labored.

"The man who nearly killed your brother…" Takei stopped to take a deep breath. "He…I…"

"What?!" Kaede shouted, punching the man in his skinless chest. "Tell me!"

"I don't…re-remember…" Takei groaned.

"You fucking liar!" She channeled Kurama's chakra into her bare hands and pressed them against his flesh. The dark chakra flared and intensified Takei's pain. His muscles tensed, and decayed. He kept screaming and screaming, but Kaede didn't stop. He writhed in pain and kept shaking, but Kaede didn't let up. This man was going to die one way or another. After a few seconds, Kaede realized that she was desecrating a dead body. Takei had been dead for quite some time before she stopped. Kaede looked at her clones and nodded her head at them.

She shook her head and walked from the door and headed into the next room. The final room, with Tao. She entered the room and found Tao gurgling and choking violently. A towel was held onto his face by a shadow clone, while another slowly poured water onto the man, choking and practically drowning him. His body twitched and writhed under the pressure of the torture, but he couldn't express his pain. He screamed, but every time he opened his mouth, water would force its way down his nose and throat and into his trachea.

"Stop." Kaede said once more as she entered the room. The clones backed away and removed the towel from his face and threw it on the floor and pulled the boy from the bench and tied him to a metal chair with the jumper cables. Two more clones went to the wall and blew a hole into it and used the pliers to tear open the wiring of the room and rewired it to act as an electric chair.

"Who stabbed my brother, and where is Yamauchi Han?!" Kaede slammed her palms onto the arms of the metal chair.

"I don't know where he is!" Tao screamed. Kaede was taken aback by his quick response. "We each went our different ways after the operation went down! Kurotsuchi-sama made it home, but it seems that Han and the rest of the Manto under his control are on the run or in hiding!"

"I see…" Kaede replied. "Now…do you know who nearly killed my brother?"

"Yes…" Tao replied. "Please…I don't want to die…" Tears formed in his eyes as he begged for life. "I was forced into the Manto because of my talent…I want to live please!"

"Then go on. Tell me about this man." Kaede said as she sat down on a plastic chair in front of Tao.

* * *

**Disturbing part over!**

* * *

"He…his name…" Tao looked nervous. "YAMANAKA INOICHI!"

Silence.

Kaede's jaw dropped at the information. She didn't know if she was to believe it, or to disregard it, but it must've been for a reason. No one would place the blame on a noble clan head of Konoha, and family friend for no reason at all. Kaede growled deeply and narrowed her eyes at Tao, before grabbing the spiked mallet and ramming it across his face, tearing open his cheek revealing busted molars and canines. Tao's tears finally fell as he looked at Kaede with fear.

"Please!" He begged. "I'm telling the truth!" Kaede shook her head in disgust but sat back down onto her chair and looked Tao in the eyes.

"Now. To Han's top captains; Okano Tetsui, Manabu Ige and Uemura Soichiro. Where are they? They are bound to know about Han's location." Kaede said taking slow and deep breaths.

"I don't know either…" Tao whimpered. "Please! I'm just a lowly lieutenant! But I do know someone who might know of their location!"

"Then stop wasting my time!" Kaede shouted as she bashed his chest with the mallet.

"Start off with Tetsui-taichou's main subordinate; Ogura Kiyohisa!" Tao shouted.

"Alright…now where do I find him?" Kaede asked. She inwardly smiled knowing that she was finally getting some progress.

"You'll find him at Okushin-jo!" Tao replied. "But it's one of the most heavily defended fortresses in all of Tsuchi no Kuni. It has a garrison of nearly five hundred infantry and one hundred shinobi!"

"Well I am a ninja…" Kaede smirked. "This is what I've been trained to do kid."

Kaede turned to leave. Her clones had finished the complete rewire of the room and started placing tags all over the hotel room. The living room, the dining room, the bathroom, the three torture rooms and Tao's own room. He started shaking uncontrollably.

"HEY!" He cried. "PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

The clones shook their heads and dispersed once they finished their jobs. He watched as Kaede stopped at the door frame. She reached over to the light switch and stopped just before she flicked it on. She began to contemplate her choices and heard his cries for mercy. She could always do that, and start off on a good note with kindness…but then again; he didn't deserve kindness. Who knew how many Uchiha and Senju he murdered? Who knew how many innocent lives he took" Who knew what he'd do when she lets him go? She shook her head, forcing the debate from her thoughts and flicked the switch on, causing the electricity to shoot off and enter the young boy's body.

She grabbed her scroll with her supplies and information stored in and hiraishined back to her camp on the outskirts of Amegakure. She grabbed her supplies and kicked out her fire and started packing her tent and bed roll and sealed them into a scroll, before taking off into the trees without looking back at the village.

_BOOM!_

The tree's shook and leaves were forced to flitter from their branches as the explosion was bigger than what Kaede had first anticipated. The lakes surrounding Amegakure shook and rippled as the shockwave shook the entire city and probably the entire country. Not once did the girl look back or worry about the countless lives that she probably took in that explosion. Not once did she feel a pang of hurt or regret. She was angry and she was out for blood.

'Okushin-jo…here I come…' Kaede thought.

'That's three down brother…mother…'

* * *

**So now the vengeance arc has begun! **

** Next chapter, Kaede fights Kiyohisa and finds that she's in a bigger conspiracy than what she thought before! Not everything is what it seems, and not everything is black and white. And why does she feel this strange pull at her body...as if someone is calling her via Hiraishin!? Stay Tuned and find out!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	5. Mikadzuki no Mai

**Here is part II xD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Mikadzuki no Mai**

**The Road to Vengeance Arc**

**Part II of VI**

_Two Weeks Later In Konohagakure…_

Naruto was still comatose, but a scroll suddenly popped up next to him. Sasuke looked up and grabbed the scroll and read that it was from Kaede. He freaked out and quickly opened the scroll and began to read its contents.

_Dear Naruto-nii-san,_

_ I have finally taken the first step in full vengeance for our family, and vengeance for you. I don't know if you're going to make it or not, but I will make sure that those who have wronged you will pay for their betrayal and actions. I will stop at nothing to end what they started. Already, I have killed Ishida Terumoto, Akeno Takei and Mareo Tao of the Kuroi Manto. _

_ I am currently on my way towards Okushin-jo to get more information about the perpetrators of the massacre. Ogura Kiyohisa, the main subordinate of Okano Tetsui, the head captain direct under Yamauchi Han. Already, I can already see the look of surprise of Han's face when I dig my blade into his chest, just like he did to mother. And I can't wait to see the day when I gut you're attacker, my brother. _

_ You may not believe this, but I was told that the one who tried to kill you was Inoichi-san…but I don't want to believe it without the proper amount of information from those who were there. That is why I am taking on Kiyohisa. I believe he is the one who cut off Mikoto-oba's head during the start of the massacre. I looked for his picture in the BINGO books, but apparently, he doesn't have one except for the basic sketches by Law Enforcement in neighboring nations. _

_ I'm scared somewhat brother. I don't know what I'm doing, or where I'm going, but I have to do this, so please, just stay where you are, if you're awake. I need to do this on my own. I don't know why I have to, but I just have a feeling that I have to. _

_ I love you. Don't forget that Nii-san._

_I'll be home soon,_

_ Namikaze Kaede, Aka Hime no Konoha_

Sasuke sighed and rolled up the scroll and placed it back onto the bedside table. He stood from his seat and headed out of the hospital room with a distraught expression about him. They were going to war with Iwa soon, but they needed the Golden Prince awake to make a heavy stand without the Uchiha or Senju clansmen at the front holding off Iwa's advances. The thought of his family brought pain to his chest…especially with the state that Itachi was in.

He looked out the window of the hall and heaved a heavy sigh. It was just a few minutes past midnight.

'Kaede…'

_In Tsuchi no Kuni…five miles from Okushin-jo… _

Kaede was sitting on a rock with a small flame in front of her as she bit into her deer and rice ball. She scratched the back of her neck with a blank look on her face. The fire in front of her flickered and cackled as it ate through the sticks and firewood gathered, and cooked the meat she had. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and looked off into the distance.

The great keep of Okushin-jo towered over much of the area. Its high peaks and powerful and omnipresent watchtowers were all she could see in the rocky horizon. Its roofs were painted green and brown with a little bit of gold intertwined. Despite the time being a few minutes after the stroke of midnight, the gold still glinted, showing off the castles majestic beauty to anyone day or night.

The redheaded girl was at first amazed and slack-jawed at the behemoth of a castle and realized that there are almost no castles like that in Hi no Kuni unless they were near or around the capital of the country. She needed a plan she thought. She needed a really good plan. She stretched her sides and lay down onto her mat and stared at the star studded night sky.

"I hope nii-san is alright…" Kaede sighed. "I don't know why Kurama hasn't healed Naruto-nii completely yet…"

'It's because I can't.' Yin Kurama said to Kaede in her mind. 'My Yang, is doing all he can to heal Naruto, but Naruto's brain is barely coping with the fact that he nearly died and that Kurotsuchi is the one who killed Ino. His brain is purposely staying in a coma.'

'What?' Kaede asked.

'That's what Yang told me.' Kurama said before going back to sleep.

"Damn it…" Kaede thought. "Time to sleep I guess…"

_In Taki no Kuni…_

A young woman was standing in the former battlefield and found that many of the impact craters and lava constructs have been covered in overgrown grass and moss. She was supposed to be on a long length mission, but she made a pit stop here at a place with so many memories. She traced her hands over the many hiraishin kunai that have become useless because of the neglect they received for the past few months. She looked to the far side of the clearing and found the last place she and Naruto made love.

A dried lava roof was formed over a blanket and some burned out candles with a few dead roses and flowers in a vase. The entire room was filled with seals hiding it from everyone but Naruto and herself. She looked around and reminisced in the memories that shot into her mind as she took notice of the different things still remaining.

She sat down on the blanket that they used to make love on so many times in the past. After everything that has happened, she couldn't help but shed a few tears. For almost four years, they were together and after four years, they were going to run away together, but seeing as how everything has happened, that was out of the question. She traced her hands along the lava structure and felt the small engravings of silencing seals and felt the invisibility seals etched into the dry lava.

"I miss him…" Kuro whispered. "I don't know what happened to him other than that he was on the ground…I hope he's fine…"

'I wouldn't be so sure Kuro.' A deep but feminine voice sounded from within. 'I know that you didn't notice, since you're rage and jealously got the better of you, but Naruto-kun was stabbed in the chest.'

"What?!" Kuro gasped. She felt her heart pang heavily. "How could that be?!"

'A man with long blond hair tied in a pony-tail under a henge attacked him in the midst of the chaos that ensued.' The wolf replied. 'I don't know who it was but…it was quite peculiar seeing as how Han's Kuroi Manto, let him through their lines.'

"T-That bastard!" Kuro shouted in anger. She slammed her fist into the side of the dry lava walls. "How could he?!"

"You're brother knew all about you and Naruto-kun." The wolf replied once more. "I don't know how, but he did and he didn't like it."

"So what's going on now?" Kuro asked.

"I believe there is only one way to make sure that Naruto-kun is alright." The wolf demon within replied. "You're going to have to call Naruto-kun via hiraishin."

"What?! B-But I don't have the seal formula…nor do I even have the right anymore!" Kuro replied in exasperation as tears formed in the corner of her eyes. "After what I did to him and his family…"

'That doesn't matter now.' The wolf replied once more. 'What does is that you must make amends with the boy!'

"FINE…I guess I should go ahead and try to copy the hiraishin seal…"

_With Kaede…_

The redhead was once again henged, but this time she was just some lowly Iwa samurai that she picked off during one of his patrols. She was wearing his armor and his face through a henge, and no one expected her to be there. No one cared to check, so she was green to continue. She walked through the massive wooden gates studded with large metal studs and entered the cobblestone courtyard of the castle. In the center of the courtyard was a large fountain with lights and torches everywhere, surrounded by a beautiful garden and infantrymen posted all over the place.

There were already at least one hundred footmen marching and patrolling through the courtyard itself. She looked at the walls and found archers and long-range shinobi, from what her sensory skills told her, stationed all across the length of the wall and battlements. She followed a random patrol and broke from formation and subtly entered the main castle and broke henge and entered the main foyer disguised as some Iwa shinobi she remembered killing.

There were naginata wielding infantry and heavy guardsmen posted at each hall and entryway. At the base of the main stairs were two heavily armored samurai brutes with kanabo, instead of katanas. She quickly found a group of shinobi walking through a hallway and joined in, pretending that she wasn't there. She followed with the group up the stairs and to the second floor, where instead of guardsmen and samurai, it was a lot of shinobi and Iwa shinobi brutes.

There were also a lot of Kuroi Manto and Ganban agents walking around the second floor. Kaede made sure to keep to herself and not draw any attention. If she did, then it was over for her, unless she was able to get the hiraishin to work faster than her brother and father. She kept watching her surroundings but suddenly a loud crash was heard from the other side of the hall. All heads turned to see an extremely handsome man with spikey black hair and a strong jawline. His eyes were pink just like a certain lava princess. He looked around and started marching off through the hall with an entourage of jounin commanders and samurai commanders trailing right behind him.

"Kiyohisa-sama!" One of the commanders called out. "You need to calm down!"

"Calm down?!" Kiyohisa asked in exasperation. "How can I calm down when I know that the Aka-hime is after me!?"

"We understand the situation, but…" One of the other jounin commanders replied.

"No! I want extra patrols; I want extra reinforcements waiting in reserve, I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT SHE DOESN'T GET IN!"

"Well…you're a little late for that…" A voice said from down the hall.

Kiyohisa looked in unbridled fear. All around the source of the voice were dead shinobi and guardsmen. In her hands was a bloodied katana. She wore golden-orange armor and had a head of flowing red hair. Woman had a beautiful face and had whisker marks adorning each cheek. Her eyes though, were exploding with a blood red color. She had a small smirk on her face as her canines elongated.

"A-Aka-hime-n-no-K-Konohaaaa!" Some of the jounin commanders cried out in fear.

The tension was so thick that a few of the not so powerful guardsmen passed out from just pure fear. Kaede tilted he head slightly and smiled at Kiyohisa. She didn't say anything but simply stared at the man without any emotion. Kiyohisa though was surprised and was captivated by her beauty, but then remembered that she was probably there to kill him. She lifted up a finger and already three Iwa jounin charged at her out of fear.

Each jounin wielded a sword, but once they got into range, Kaede simply swung her sword up and slashed the face open of one of the shinobi. She spun on the ball of her right heel and dodged another jounin and slashed down on his back. Just as that jounin fell to the ground with blood pouring from his back and onto the floor below, she spun around once more and slashed open the chest of the third and final jounin that chose to challenge her.

"Come." Kaede taunted. Kiyohisa charged forward with a shout and punched for Kaede, but she dodged the attack and sent a left hook into his lower abdomen and had him stumbling. She jumped up and kneed his chin, stumbling him and putting him in a small daze. Just before she could hit the ground, she sent a round house kick, sending Kiyohisa flying back.

"You're slower than I thought…" Kaede smirked and charged forward with her katana drawn.

Just before she could close the distance, she felt a sudden pull on her body. The katana shook and then her body soon shook along with it. Her eyes widened with confusion, but she shook it off and continued her charge towards her target. Kiyohisa bent back and brought up his hands to defend himself, but before Kaede could connect her attack, she vanished without a trace.

_In Taki no Kuni…_

_Flash!_

"Grrraaah!" Kaede flashed into the clearing with her sword still drawn. It took a moment for her to register where she was, and found that instead of Kiyohisa, she saw a girl wearing a cloak with a hood over her head was now in her line of sight. The cloaked girl backed away with lightning fast skill, faster than what Kaede would have hoped.

The redhead brought her foot out and dug into the ground to slow her assault and spun around on her toes to face the newcomer. The hooded girl gasped in surprise and removed her hood to reveal a pristine face, tired pink eyes and short black hair. The girl's mouth was agape with surprise.

"KAEDE!? W-What the fuck are you doing here!?" Kurotsuchi asked in fear.

"KUROTSUCHI!? H-How the fuck did you call me!?" Kaede replied with the same tone.

Neither girl waited to get an answer and charged at each other with the intent to kill. Kaede closed the distance first and lunged with her katana, but Kurotsuchi was faster and blocked the attack with her own katana that she drew from within her cloak. The blades clashed, shooting off sparks in all directions. Kaede was the first to break the collision and sent an overhead strike at Kuro, but the black haired girl raised her arm and blocked the attack.

Kuro sliced her blade from Kaede's and kicked the redhead back and charged for the Namikaze with her sword held out. Kuro swung forward with a strange stance that Kaede had never seen before and the two blades clashed once more, sending sparks into the air. Kaede sidestepped Kuro's lunge and sent an elbow into Kuro's spine, stumbling her stance slightly.

Kaede was suddenly pulled back by a clone of Kuro and thrown to the other side of the clearing. It all happened so fast and neither was even able to compute what was happening. Kaede shook her head and three shadow clones popped into existence. Each one had the same cocky smirk and had their swords drawn. The great thing about being Naruto's twin was the fact that whatever powers Naruto had, Kaede had as well.

The three clones charged at Kurotsuchi with super-fast speed. Their golden armor glinting in the light of the crescent moon. The original Kaede jumped up with her sword over her head and landed just in front of Kuro and brought the sword down, nearly taking the Yamauchi's head off. Just as Kuro was about to recuperate from the attack, another clone came around with her sword drawn and sent a lunge for Kuro's face, but the black haired princess blocked the attack, and redirected it elsewhere.

Kaede saw this as an opening and charged for Kuro's vulnerable side, but her blade clashed with thick and heavy earth. The redhead back away when she saw a Kurotsuchi clone jump from the girl's shoulder. It was made of earth and began to clear out and mold together to form a more realistic visual of the original. The Namikaze shook her head and sent a heavy haymaker, but barely managed to even shake the rock hard clone of the Lava Princess.

'Fuck that's hard!' Kaede whined.

The redhead was caught off guard by the earth clone and was punched in the chest, knocking the wind from her lungs. Kaede was forced from her feet and landed onto one of the lava constructs that protruded from the clearing every here and there. The two girls jumped away from each other and examined the other's position and stance. Kuro narrowed her eyes and glared at Kaede, just as the redhead had done to her.

"Well then…Aka-hime…" Kuro taunted.

"Indeed Yougan-hime…" Kaede replied.

"I think that was a nice little spar…" Kuro said as she plopped down onto the ground. Her arm and chest needed healing.

Kaede was no better, but she needed to know something. She charged for Kurotsuchi and pinned her against the wall of one of the dried lava constructs and held her kunai against the black haired girl's neck. Kaede's eyes spelled bloody murder as she glared deep into Kurotsuchi's eyes.

"Where the hell is your brother…?" Kaede growled.

"…" Kuro took a moment before replying. "I don't know…"

"What the fuck do you mean by 'I don't know'? He's your fucking brother!" Kaede tightened the pressure of the kunai.

"What I mean is that, my brother is on the run." Kurotsuchi replied as she slowly pushed the dumbfounded Kaede away from her.

Kaede sat down on a rock and motioned for Kurotsuchi to do the same and also motioned for her to continue with her explanation.

"After the attack…my brother and I had a major talk, and things got heated and it turned into an all-out fight where I nearly vaporized him." Kurotsuchi said. "My brother tried to kill me and his Kuroi Manto tried to fight my own, but they lost and they fled along with Han."

"W-What? Why?" Kaede was surprised.

"In Iwa, we have specific rules and regulations for certain situations, such as assassination or slaughter of another clan or more." Kuro started. "Those rules say that innocents must not be harmed or be shown any form of harm. The targets were the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan. Your father was a target since he was a descendent of the Senju as were you and your siblings, but Naruto wasn't to be touched, and neither was your mother, since your mother is of the Uzumaki Clan."

"I see…" Kaede said in understanding. "Well…seeing as we have the same goals, do you mind helping me on my mission?"

"What is your mission?" Kurotsuchi asked. 'She seems to be almost exactly like her brother…so trusting in others…'

"Assassination…vengeance." Kaede replied darkly. "I am after your brother and the one who nearly killed my brother."

"You're brother almost died?!" Kuro gasped as a heavy pang of hurt beat in her chest. "Wait! I di-"

"It's alright Kuro-chan…" Kaede replied. "I already knew about you and Naruto-nii…"

"W-What…h-how?!" Kurotsuchi asked in fear. "We made sure to keep it a secret!"

"I wasn't too sure at first but…" Kaede trailed off. "Every time we would meet each other here in Taki no Kuni to fight, you and Naruto-nii would charge straight for each other…it almost seemed that you two were flirting with each other through your fists and swords."

"W-Well…" Kurotsuchi blushed slightly and sighed.

"I can tell that you love him…" Kaede said. "And I can tell that he loves you too…but…why? Why did you have to do this and break his heart? He's in a coma right now because of the fact that his mind suffered from trauma, most likely the fact that he saw you kill his wife…"

"THAT BITCH DIDN'T DESERVE HIM!" Kurotsuchi shouted in anger as her chakra suddenly flared, blowing her hair all over the place, revealing small bruises on her temples and cheeks. Kaede gasped at the sight. She trailed her eyes over the rest of Kurotsuchi's body and found bruises and scars every here and there on her arms and legs and neck. "I deserved him the most! I gave him everything, even my fucking virginity! I loved him! I still love him! I was even going to be…" Kurotsuchi suddenly stopped herself and collapsed onto the ground below her. Kaede was taken aback by the sudden change in attitude.

There was a palpable silence that followed for the longest time as neither girl spoke up. Kaede began to think of all the possibilities of where Kurotsuchi could have gotten those bruises. Almost all of them looked recent and there was no way she could have gotten those bruises from Naruto. None of them looked like love-bites…but instead, like she was punched or kicked and she didn't fight back. But just as Kaede began to come to different conclusions, Kurotsuchi suddenly sniffled.

"Wait…" Kaede sat down next to her brother's lover. "What were you going to be…?"

"I…I was going to be…" Kurotsuchi couldn't even finish her statement. She suddenly burst into tears and leaned her head on Kaede's shoulder. Kaede was taken by surprise once again. One second Kurotsuchi was pissed off then now she was sobbing onto her armor. Kurotsuchi continued to cry but then looked up to Kaede. "I was going to be the mother of his child…"

Kaede's eyes shot from her head. Not once did her nii-san speak of Kurotsuchi getting impregnated. She would have thought that Kurotsuchi would have been safe with their sexual escapades, but something must have made the girl think otherwise. Kurotsuchi continued to cry, but it soon turned into hysterical wailing. Kaede began to feel uncomfortable as the sorrow in her screams became contagious.

"What happened to make this such a bad memory…?" Kaede asked.

"F-four months ago…" Kurotsuchi said. "I found t-that I was pregnant with Naruto's b-baby…I had to see him and tell him…I really wanted to speak to him and I really wanted to see him and tell him what had happened…I wanted us to run away together…but before I could get out of the castle and call on Naruto-kun here, my lecherous husband caught me trying to sneak out…"

"Oh Kurotsuchi…don't tell me…" Kaede felt tears stinging the corners of her eyes. Her hand was pressed against her agape mouth. She could already tell where this was going.

"That b-bastard…" Kurotsuchi's tears started falling again, but she was still able to speak. "H-He forced abortion on the child…! He killed Naruto-kun's baby! He beat me that night…and hurt me…and raped me…he turned me into his personal fuck-toy! I hate him with all of my soul…I just wanted to run away and live my life with Naruto…"

"I-I can't b-believe this…" Kaede said as tears started flowing down her cheeks as she grabbed Kurotsuchi in for a tight hug. Kurotsuchi was at first caught off guard, but loosened up and wrapped her arms around the redhead's back and began to cry once more. The two of them continued to cry until they could cry no more and just sat beneath the moon of the night.

"I…t-thank you for listening…" Kurotsuchi said suddenly.

"Y-your welcome…nee-chan…" Kaede smiled a teary foxy grin. "You seem to have been though a lot…"

"Kami…" Kurotsuchi sniffled hard. "I needed that…and thank you…Imōto…"

The two sat in relative silence and stared off into the crescent moon above them. It was beautiful and shined down upon the two gorgeous angels like a spot light. Kaede smiled softly and looked over to Kuro but looked back to the grass below her. Kurotsuchi smiled back and leaned her head against the solidified lava.

"Hey…if you need help in your mission…" Kurotsuchi offered. "I am technically on an S classed solo mission with an undefined amount of time…"

"I…I would love that!" Kaede smiled brightly. "But…are you sure about killing your own people?"

"These men have betrayed my people and my family…and yours." Kurotsuchi said. "They deserve nothing less than death. But something is irking me…"

"What?" Kaede asked.

"The Wolf told me that the one who stabbed Naruto-kun was a man with dirty blond hair and it was in a pony-tail, and he had teal green eyes…"

'It…can't be…' Kaede's face paled slightly. 'There's only one person with that description…'

"Do you know anyone with those features?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"No…" Kaede quickly replied. "I have no idea…it could be anyone…"

"Alright…" Kurotsuchi sighed and lay on the grass. "We should rest…and come up with a plan to get your target…"

_Eight hours later…_

Kurotsuchi awoke to the smell of sizzling meat and cooking ramen. The pink-eyed girl relished in the smell of ramen, especially since it was Naruto's favorite food. She could already feel his presence, but once her vision cleared up she laid her eyes upon a beautiful woman with red flowing hair. She had vibrant, electric blue eyes with whisker marks on her cheeks. She was stirring the food in a cooking spit over a fire.

The sun was up and a new day had dawned for the new duo. Kurotsuchi suddenly remembered her encounter with Namikaze Kaede, twin sister of Naruto. Kuro thought about the entire situation and realized that Kaede had taken the information quite well considering the fact that they were supposed to be enemies, especially since a war was eminent. But she was prepared to do what was necessary for her people.

The princess pushed herself off the grassy clearing and trudged over to Kaede and plopped down on a rock and grabbed a bowl. Kaede sent a small smile at Kurotsuchi and grabbed her ladle and poured a good amount into Kurotsuchi's bowl before chowing down on her own food. The smell of sizzling meat entered Kuro's and Kaede's noses, causing their stomachs to growl viciously, despite the fact that they were already eating a delicious breakfast. Kaede removed her chopsticks from her noodles and grabbed a small piece of deer meat and flopped it around in her ramen.

"This is a lot better than what Naruto would cook…" Kurotsuchi giggled.

"You know, he never knew how to cook." Kaede said with a noodle hanging out of the side of her lips. "I had to go over with him at least two hundred times on how to crack eggs."

"R-Really!?" Kurotsuchi started giggling once more. "That's kinda sad for a man of his stature. He can kill hundreds, but he can't crack a simple egg."

"I know. He's an idiot." Kaede snickered. "But…I love him. He's my brother, better yet, he's my twin…and I wouldn't want him to be anything else other than what he already is…"

"Well said Imōto…" Kurotsuchi smiled. "So…tell me about your Imōto and Otōto."

"Well, Mito is a lot like me, but she has blonde hair, whisker marks of course, and the same violet eyes as my mother. She's a hardheaded three year old…but she's so adorable when she sleeps. She always has a small snot bubble form when she sleeps…and her twin brother, Arashi." Kaede said, but Kurotsuchi interrupted.

"Hold on, twin?" Kurotsuchi asked with a questioning look.

"Yup!" Kaede chirped happily.

"Your mom must've been super fertile then…" Kurotsuchi said with wide eyes. Kaede felt a small pang of sadness when Kuro mentioned her mother, but shook it off and giggled.

"She had me and Naruto when she was sixteen." Kaede said.

"W-Wow…" Kurotsuchi said with wide eyes. "No wonder she looked amazing…she must've been what…thirty-six years old?"

"Exactly." Kaede smirked. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Arashi."

"Cute name by the way." Kurotsuchi piped.

"He has black hair with blood red strands. Yeah, I don't know either. But he basically has my mother's face, mother's personality, mother's laugh; mother's everything minus the obvious. He is very energetic like his big bro Naruto, but he's also kind of a control freak-ish…well as far as a control freak could get with toddlers. He tried to take my hiraishin kunai and started throwing them everywhere and started flashing about like some red-flash devil." Kaede giggled. "From that day, we realized that he was just as much as a prodigy as Naruto and I are."

"Well then…a clan of hiraishin users…" Kuro down casted.

"Just hope that the war won't be too bad and that with Naruto and my help, we can bring peace between our nations." Kaede smiled. "Nii-san always spoke of peace and hoped to make a better future without all of this pointless strife."

"So…does Naruto know about this mission?" Kuro asked.

"Hell no…if he found out…he'd kill me so fast…" Kaede sighed. "Revenge is taboo in our family. It is something that we must not take under any and all circumstances. He would get so pissed off if he found out what I did to those Kuroi Manto members and Manto fodder back in Amegakure."

"T-That was you?!" Kurotsuchi shouted. The Iwa Princess shivered involuntarily and saw Kaede in a whole new light. "I swear…I'm going to love hanging out with you."

"I could say the same with you Nee-chan." Kaede smirked. "You're by far the only kunoichi that could match me in an all-out fight with kenjutsu. We didn't even get into ninjutsu."

"Ohhh I would love to fight you with ninjutsu." Kurotsuchi smiled. She shivered in the anticipation of such a fight.

"I would too…but now…" Kaede said getting down to business. "What can you tell me about Ogura Kiyohisa…?"

"K-Kiyohisa?" Kurotsuchi asked in surprise. "What about him?"

"He's my target." Kaede said with a raised eyebrow.

"W-Well…for one thing…" Kuro struggled. "He's…kinda…my cousin…on my mother's side…hence the pink eyes…"

"Well then…this is interesting." Kaede said. "You know that he was-"

"Yes I know." Kaede said. "He was at the massacre. He was the one who beheaded the Uchiha Matriarch. His sensei, Okano Tetsui, is the one who plunged an arrow into the Uchiha Patriarch's head."

"What of his skills?" Kaede asked. "Connections? Weaknesses? Strengths?"

"He is highly proficient with lava release, that's for certain. He's the one who helped teach me after all y'know. Connections, well from what I can tell, He is the only one who knows where Tetsui is. Weaknesses, he's too quick to overestimate and underestimate his opponents. Whereas, I will play around with my prey and gauge their power. Strengths? Well he's very smart and uses that to his advantage. He is a combat genius and has never lost a battle, despite his obvious weaknesses. He is also highly proficient in kenjutsu, so a swordfight would be pretty interesting."

"I see…and this Okano Tetsui, what about him?" Kaede asked. "The BINGO books have nothing on him, almost as if he doesn't exist. The only way I knew about him was when I extracted information from one of the prisoners I took. What was his name…ah? Mareo Tao, a lieutenant for Han's Kuroi Manto."

"Tetsui is a true military mastermind. He was the one behind the construction of Okushin-jo and appointed his personal apprentice, my cousin, Okano Kiyohisa, as master of the Okushin-jo. Because of its imposing size and power, my father wouldn't dare to assault the fortress, leaving Kiyohisa with the entire force of the large five hundred strong garrison."

"There are more stationed within the castle itself. The castle is almost impossible to sap, because of the fact that it is reinforced with earth jutsu's and whatnot." Kurotsuchi said. "So attacking and killing my cousin won't be easy. We'll need a fool-proof plan."

"I think I have one…" Kaede smirked.

"Pray-tell?" Kurotsuchi asked getting interested.

"Well, remember how you called me here by accident?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah?"

"Well since you always channeled chakra into hiraishin seals to call my brother, do the same with my hiraishin seals." Kaede said. "I will slap a reverse hiraishin seal on his body and that will flash him to your position back here in Taki no Kuni. I will flash here right behind him and we'll get to access the important information about Tetsui."

"Oh another thing. Tetsui is also a direct commander underneath Han, ranking number three with the other commanders, not including Han. Tetsui knows where the next in line is located at. The farther we dig, the deeper we'll be in this whole ordeal." Kurotsuchi said. "I don't understand this either…but from Tetsui, comes Manabu Ige, then to Uemura Soichiro as number one, then finishing off with the grand prize of Yamauchi Han."

"This is only going to get interesting…" Kaede smirked. "Let's eat up before the assault is to begin alright? I don't want you getting too weak to imprison your family member…"

"Don't worry about it Imōto. Just kick some ass out there." Kurotsuchi smirked.

"Will do Nee-chan!" Kaede then flashed out of the area leaving Kurotsuchi alone once more.

_In Tsuchi no Kuni…Okushin-jo…courtyard…_

_FLASH!_

Infantry heard the blast of energy and instantly went into action. They saw the flash, but waited for the person to come out of the slash in the dimension. Infantry were on a high alert, especially after the incident the night before. Suddenly, the ground began to shake beneath the infantry. Shinobi looked intrigued but didn't do anything.

**"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!"** The shout came from beneath the ground and it seemed to be a large attack force coming from beneath the ground. The infantry had looks of fear on their faces as they were pulled into the ground with only their heads sticking from the ground; in their former position above the ground, stood a woman with a golden mask and had a flowing head of red hair. Her eyes were a piercing blue with small strands of violet in her irides. She wore a golden breastplate with golden shin guards.

"I-its t-the A-Aka-Hime!" One of the infantry men screamed in fear.

"Well…it's nice to know that I'm known." She tilted her head and flashed once more, but with her sword angled down and flashed past the infantry heads poking up from the ground. Their heads shot from the ground like bamboo shoots and landed around her as blood rained down from the sky. Kaede stopped and sheathed her sword to glare menacingly at the shinobi coming down from the top of the walls of the fortress. Many were jounin leveled shinobi and all of them had slashes through their hitai-ate. Kaede merely smirked and threw up the horse hand seal.

**"Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku!" **She took a deep breath and shot forth a powerful blast of fire, like what her brother does. The flames shot forward and burned through the earth defenses and earth shinobi, before they could even get their defenses up. Many died within the second the flames left her mouth. She jumped back a few feet and sped through more hand seals. **"Katon: Housenka no jutsu!"**

The fire balls shot from her mouth but, just before they could hit the stragglers in the courtyard, a large wall of lava was formed, taking the hit instead of the shinobi. Kaede quickly swiveled her head to see Kiyohisa aided by four samurai dressed in full battle armor. They had battle banners with the words _Instant Death_ in kanji. The samurai instead of having a flame on their kabuto helmets, they had the symbol of Iwa on their foreheads.

They were armed with naginata's and katana's on their sides. Their armor was maroon with brown signifying their allegiance or in this case, former allegiance to Iwagakure. Their faces were covered by face masks that resembled the Chikyū-shin of Tsuchi no Kuni. The open mouth guards filled with sharp teeth pried from the mouths of Tsuchi no Kuni foxes.

'Those disrespectful curs…' Yin Kurama growled from within Kaede's mindscape. 'They murdered my kin…'

'Don't worry Kurama...we'll make them pay…but first…I want Kiyohisa!' Kaede charged forward without much care.

The first samurai came around and swung his naginata viciously at her, but the redhead backed away and dodged the attack like it was nothing and kicked the spear head off and made it fly into the body of an infantryman. She spun around on the ball of her heel and drew out a three pronged kunai and tackled him to the ground with chakra building off the main point of the kunai. Kaede growled and surged her chakra, forming a large blade, causing it to plunge through his heart. She pushed off the dead samurai and drew out her katana after hurling her kunai at another samurai.

The next samurai clashed his naginata with her sword, and forced sparks to fly. She ducked as he swung for her head once more. She jumped forward and sent a leg sweep, knocking the man over onto his back. She lifted her katana over her head and brought it down onto the samurai and forced the blade through his thick armor. Because of this, her sword got stuck in his slashed open chest. The last two samurai charged forward with their naginata's pointed at her.

One lunged forward, but the girl dodged and brought her forearms down, snapping the spear into thirds. She grabbed the blade of the spear and shoved it into the samurai's temple, killing him immediately, while opening up for Kaede to rush forward for the last samurai guard. He stabbed his naginata into the ground when he realized that spears were of no effect against the kunoichi. He drew out his katana and slashed forward, cutting off a few strands of hair from her head.

Kaede backed away and swung forward, clashing her blade against his. The redhead narrowed her eyes at her situation and smirked. She shut her eyes and three pops of smoke were heard. The samurai and Kiyohisa's eyes widened. Once the smoke cleared, it came to reveal three other Kaede's standing in their battle stances with their katana's drawn.

The three Kaede's reached into their kunai pouches and pulled out a scroll. The original stood in between the three clones while the clones opened up the scrolls. Once the scrolls were completely unraveled, it came to reveal a large seal in the center of the sheet with the kanji for kunai. More infantry poured out into the courtyard with shinobi closely following behind. Kaede smirked at her luck.

"Wait!" Kiyohisa screamed once he realized what the scrolls held, but it was too late.

After a small pop of smoke from each scroll, hiraishin kunai began to shoot from the seals in all directions, hitting men, walls, animals, and buildings for the next few minutes. Okushin-jo was pelted with hiraishin kunai non-stop. But once it did finish, it came to reveal a porcupine-state courtyard with wounded infantry and shinobi lying about with one or two hiraishin kunai embedded in their chests or other body parts. While a large amount was wounded, there were still hundreds of infantry and shinobi still stationed in the fortress.

"**Hiraishin no jutsu…**"

_Not too long afterwards…_

Kaede stood in the center of the bloodbath that Okushin-jo had become and smirked at the blood-soaked Kiyohisa. The entire fortress was eradicated of its garrison by one person in less than a second. Everything happened so fast. Kiyohisa had never seen anything like it. He shit and pissed his pants from the sheer power of the Namikaze. Kaede's red hair waved softly in the ominous breeze flowing through the busted courtyard and ruined walls.

There were of course, a few stragglers, but they were too wounded to do anything. Deep gashes and slashes were causing many of the 'wounded' to die from blood loss. There were limbless shinobi and headless infantry. Some were screaming in pain, while others held the same expression they had when they were still alive; fear. It was too fast. Almost as fast as the Kogane no ōji or the Kiiroi Senkō. The remaining men were horrified of the redheads skills and many of the remaining died shortly afterwards.

Kaede continued to glare at the man in front of her and sheathed her sword. She had a calm pace with her steps and slowly walked up to the shell-shocked Iwa shinobi. Kiyohisa though, was frozen in place as fear crept in. He was right with his plan to reinforce the fortress. She met him face-to-face and took off the mask from her face and gave the man a small smile. Kiyohisa felt his heart rate speed up in fear. The smile was filled with so much malice that the man couldn't help but to feel the effects of lightheadedness.

He didn't say a word. He couldn't even will his mind to reply or say a thing to his once true fear. He wasn't one to fear anything since he was the one who volunteered to be the one to kill the Uchiha Matriarch, despite the fact that he wanted to rape her first. He felt a great deal of killing intent and shrunk slightly from the chakra pressure that Kaede was emitting. Kaede, because of her bijuu, could sense the emotions flittering around Kiyohisa's mind and kicked the man down to the blood-drenched floor.

She placed her foot on the man's unprotected throat and put pressure. As she did this, she looked about the courtyard and found bodies and parts of bodies, littering every crack and crevice of the castle. There were bodies on the rooftops, in the walls, on the walls, on the floor, but the most disturbing part of the castle was the once beautiful and clear water fountain in the center of the courtyard was now shooting off gallons of blood instead of water. Heads and part of heads floated in the water at the base of the fountain.

All of this happened in less than five seconds.

Kaede looked down to see Kiyohisa turning blue. She removed her foot and slapped the man across the face, forcing a reverse Hiraishin seal on his cheek. She raised her hand for the jutsu and the unconscious man flashed out of the courtyard, leaving Kaede behind. Just before she could leave as well, an arrow lodged itself in between her legs, and punctured the ground beneath her.

She turned around and narrowed her eyes at the newcomer. He was dressed in a black cloak signifying his Kuroi Manto status, but she didn't know who the man was. He was aided by two other black cloaks. They were standing at the top of the wall on the far side of the courtyard. She channeled her sensory chakra and widened her eyes when she felt that all three black cloaks had massive amounts of chakra.

"So…it seems that the Aka-hime is on a vengeance streak." The man said as he and his two companions jumped down from the wall segment and landed gracefully on the corpse covered courtyard. Their cloaks waved in the wind as their feet touched the ground below. They removed their hoods and narrowed their eyes at the kunoichi princess.

The one in the middle seemed to be a middle aged man with greying hair, but his eyes were filled with so much unbearable power. His chakra reserves were off the charts, and he seemed to be holding back. Next to him was a black haired kunoichi with orange eyes. Her eyes were fierce. She too seemed to be holding back, but the last and final was a kunoichi as well, with blood red hair and green eyes. She was glaring at Kaede with deep animosity. The two girls drew out a black katana while the middle man drew out a kusarigama.

"Who are you?" Kaede asked with a cocky smirk. Two shadow clones popped up next to her.

"It seems that you've been searching for me, but you don't even know what I look like." The old man laughed. "I'm Okano Tetsui. These two are my daughters; Yasuha and Hatomi. They don't like Konoha shinobi, much less Konoha royalty."

"Oh really now?" Kaede asked with sarcasm.

"Yes…" Yasuha, the redhead growled. "That's why we relished in the destruction of your clan."

"And it also seems that your own clans can't be trusted." Hatomi sneered. "But all of that is beside the point."

"We'll tell you all that you want to know." Tetsui said.

"When your guts are splayed across the ground!" Hatomi and Yasuha charged forward at lightning fast speeds and clashed with Kaede.

The Namikaze was horrified by their speed and took a quick sidestep to block the hard hitting black-haired Manto. Hatomi sent a drop kick at Kaede, causing the girl to lose her footing and nearly lose her head. Kaede jumped back as a clone jumped in to clash with Hatomi. But in the midst of the fighting, Yasuha charged in from the left and sliced at Kaede's side, causing a small gash to form on Kaede's abdomen.

The redheaded Namikaze yelped in pain and jumped back a few more feet. She gripped her side to feel a clean cut through her gold armor and into her skin. Good thing it was only a flesh wound. She removed her hand from the cut to see it drenched in her own blood. The girl grunted slightly before focusing her sights on Yasuha. As it was, this apparent Manto is the only person to have ever injured Kaede, let alone scratch her. This put a major dent on the Namikaze's ego.

'This bitch is going to die…' Kaede growled.

Kaede channeled the Yang chakra of her bijuu and vanished into the shadows of the courtyard. Hatomi and Yasuha went back to back after disposing of Kaede's other clone. The two girls had their weapons held out and stayed steady with their defense. They had no emotion but hate in their different colored eyes.

Suddenly from beneath them, a shadow shot from the ground and lodged its fist into Hatomi's chin, sending her into the air leaving Yasuha open for attack. Kaede was in a black version of Naruto's bijuu cloak and lunged forward with her katana. The Manto suddenly spun around and clashed her blade with Kaede's. The girl's eyes nearly shot from her head in surprise.

'That can't be!' Kaede cried out. 'Damn it! I'm running really low on chakra!'

But in her moment of confusion, Yasuha spun around and lodged her foot into Kaede's face and sent the Namikaze flying back. The girl smashed through a building kicking up a large amount of smoke in her wake. But the surprise was up in the sky, Hatomi was flying with her hands outstretched. In her open palms was a three-dimensional cube glowing with a bright intensity. Hatomi looked down to her father and received a nod.

**"Jinton: Hakuri no jutsu!"** The cube expanded and shot for the Namikaze still in the building. Once the jutsu was finished, Hatomi slowly descended down to the courtyard floor and smiled at her sister. Yasuha smiled back and sheathed her sword. But then her right eyebrow twitched slightly.

_Flash!_

Yasuha drew her sword once again this time when her blade clashed with Kaede's, the Namikaze's sword shattered completely leaving Kaede with a metallic stump. Kaede's heart lurched at the sight of her favorite sword shatter before her eyes. Kaede was hit by a roundhouse kick from Hatomi and sent flying into a pile of dismembered bodies.

"You know…" Yasuha smirked. "I thought the Aka-hime would be more of a threat."

"Indeed sister." Hatomi smirked. "I wonder if her comatose brother could put up more of a fight than this disgrace of a princess."

"Tch…" Kaede grunted. "Don't…f-fucking…underestimate me!"

The redheaded girl revealed her mother's side and charged for the two Iwa Manto girls. The Namikaze was seeing red and let her rage get the best of her. Kaede swung for Yasuha, but the redheaded Iwa kunoichi simply sidestepped the attack and let Kaede stumble over a dismembered arm beneath her.

"Who taught you this atrocious fighting style?" Hatomi asked from the sidelines.

"I bet her mother did!" Yasuha and Hatomi started giggling. "No wonder she's dead."

"Don't you dare slander my mother's name!" Kaede roared in pure unbridled anger. Kaede kicked for Yasuha's smug looking face, but the girl simply slapped Kaede's kick away and swept her feet from under her, causing the Namikaze to fall onto her back. Tears formed in Kaede's eyes.

"Aw. Is the little Aka-hime about to cry?" Yasuha asked with a small smirk.

Kaede's eyes trailed over to her stumped sword. She eyed the designs and the Uzumaki swirl proudly emblazoned on the handle and blade. Tears fell when the memories of the sword came rushing into her mind. Kaede couldn't move though. She trailed her eyes up to see Yasuha step over her and bend down to pick up Kaede's sword.

"This sword…" The girl said. "Must've been of the Uzumaki clan's design."

"Indeed…" Kaede grunted in pain.

"No wonder it's so shitty." Yasuha laughed as she sealed it into a scroll. "A girl like you doesn't deserve the power of Kurama. A girl like you doesn't deserve power. You're way out of your league here, so I would suggest that you give up this little vendetta, since it isn't going to get you anywhere. How many more lives must you waste."

"Already, you have killed at least twenty of our good friends." Hatomi said. "Your journey ends here Namikaze. Go home to the remaining family you have before it's too late."

"I swear…" Kaede felt her tears build up once more. "If you harm my family…"

"What are you going to do?" Yasuha asked. "What the hell do you think you can do?"

"I-I'll kill you both…" Kaede growled. "Then I'll go after your father…"

"Heh." Hatomi smirked. "Those are impossible goals you're setting for yourself."

"Well then." Yasuha looked up to see her father motioning them to hurry up. "It's time for us to leave."

"But not without a going away present!" Hatomi spun through hand seals.

**"Gogyō Fūin!" **Each fingertip had a glowing flame of a different color. On her thumb, the flame was blue with the kanji for water in the center; on her index finger, the flame was red with the kanji for fire in the center; on her middle finger, the flame was a dark purple with the kanji for lightning in the center; on her ring finger, the flame was brown with the kanji for earth in the center, and finishing off with her pinky finger, the flame was white with the kanji for wind in the center.

Yasuha sliced open Kaede's breastplate to reveal her bra and bare navel. The eight-pronged seal that held the Kyuubi at bay was visible to the two girls. Kaede tried to focus chakra, but she was too weak. Hatomi rammed her hand onto Kaede's gut, forcing the seal onto her body. The redheaded Namikaze was forced up and coughed up a large amount of blood. The effects were immediate. Kaede's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed onto the ground below.

Hatomi and Yasuha smirked and jumped away for their father who was waiting for them outside of the fortress walls. In his hand was a hiraishin kunai and in the other was a scroll with the name Kiyohisa in kanji on its cover. Tetsui opened the scroll and sped through a long series of hand seals. Once he finished he channeled a small amount of chakra into his palm and looked down at the scroll. The contents of the scroll was the name of Kiyohisa and a large abundance of seals that were drawn around his name.

Tetsui slammed his palm down onto Kiyohisa's name and channeled the chakra and smiled at the result. Once the old man removed his hand from the scroll, it came to reveal an empty space in the center of the scroll where Kiyohisa's name once was. Tetsui smirked at his handiwork and motioned for his two daughters to follow him out of the area.

_In Taki no Kuni…_

"She's been gone too long…" Kurotsuchi said to herself.

"You traitorous bitch!" Kiyohisa shouted. "How could you betray us?! Your own family, your people?!"

"I'm not betraying anyone!" Kurotsuchi shouted back. "I am only doing what is right for the elemental nations as a whole!"

"Then help us in the coming war!" Kiyohisa replied. "Why do you think we went after the Namikaze's?!"

"I know why!" Kurotsuchi punched the man in his face. "My brother and his forces got too carried away!"

"No…" Kiyohisa smirked. "You must not know then…"

"Know what?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"It was all part of the plan…" Kiyohisa ambiguously stated.

"What plan…?"

"Oh nothing…" Kiyohisa smirked once more. "That Yamanaka stabbing your precious Naruto-kun wasn't a lie either…it's all-"

The pink eyed boy coughed midsentence. Kurotsuchi's went wide. She wrapped her hands around the boy's face and made him look at her. Upon closer inspection, Kiyohisa had black seals growing from his tongue and out of his mouth. Kurotsuchi's eyes went wide when she recognized the seals. They were Cursed Seals used by the Ganban to hide any evidence of their presence. Kurotsuchi growled and jumped back a few feet while the seals expanded and grew all over his body.

"Damn it!" Kurotsuchi jumped into the ground and began to burrow deep into the earth to protect herself against the wide range of the cursed seal. After a few minutes of waiting underneath the earth, she dug back to the surface to find a large crater in the middle of the clearing with Kiyohisa lying down in the center, as dead as it gets.

"I have to call Kaede back now…" Kurotsuchi sighed. "She will not be happy about this…"

**"Hiraishin no jutsu!"**

_Flash!_

"Oh Fuck! Kaede-chan!"

Lying on the grass not too far from Kurotsuchi's position was a bleeding and topless Namikaze Kaede with a strange seal placed over her jinchuriki seal. Kurotsuchi looked over Kaede's body with deep concern as she examined the damage done to the redhead's body. Light bruises were all over her chest and navel. But the wound that really irked Kurotsuchi was the large and blackening scab on her side. Kaede's skin looked paler than what it usually was.

It scared her.

"Fuck! I don't know what to do…" Kurotsuchi fell down onto her knees.

"What do I do…!?"

* * *

**So here is the end of Part II**

** Kaede is down for the count, but Kurotsuchi is now on her side! Is it permanent? Or is it all fake? What is the true story of the Uchiha/Senju Massacre? Will Kaede recover from her messed up seal? Will Kurotsuchi find her brother? What will Kaede do about the Okano sisters; Hatomi and Yasuha? What are the Yamanaka up to? When will Naruto wake up? Find out next chapter!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	6. The Red Dawn of Fire and Rock

**So here is the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto :(**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Red Dawn of Fire and Rock**

**The Road to Vengeance Arc**

**Part III of VI**

_Two Weeks Later In Konohagakure…_

Naruto was still comatose, but a scroll suddenly another scroll popped up next to the golden haired boy. The oxygen tube was still lodged down his throat. His eyes still trailed around as if he were looking at something, or someone. His breathing was steady and his heart rate was cool. The scroll next to him wasn't opened, since the only person able to open the scroll was Naruto. Someone somehow made sure that only the boy could read it.

_Dear Naruto-kun,_

_ I know this is strange getting a letter from me…especially after what had happened, but that is beside the point. I am here to tell you that your sister is injured. Kaede went on a path to avenge you and your mother. But she was able to take on Okushin-jo, the most powerful and most heavily defended stronghold in all of Tsuchi no Kuni by herself. But again, Kaede got injured during the fight. I won't go into detail about how she and I came to meet each other, but I just want to say that I promise to look after her. I will protect her with my life Naru-kun. I never meant for any harm to come to you or your family. _

_ I've had time to think. And I've come to the conclusion that…well…I still love you…the massacre was just a means to an end…still…_

_ I know that doesn't justify the fact that so many innocent people died that night…especially your mother. I can't stress to you how much it hurts me to know that you lost someone so precious to you…so I promise you, on my word as a Yamauchi, the noblest of the noble clans of Iwa, I will make sure that no harm comes to Kaede no more. I promise to have her back no matter how deep she may go. And Naruto-kun…maybe…after all of this calms down, and we are able to defuse the war…maybe, just maybe…we could run away together._

_ This is probably just wishful thinking, but, remember that hideout that you told me that you and Kaede would run away to sometimes? Well…I was thinking…maybe we could run there after all of this is over. Live in secret, life another life…maybe even have the family that we used to wish we could have together. Maybe. Just stay safe my love…_

_ Yours forever and always,_

_ Yamauchi Kurotsuchi, Yougan-hime no Iwagakure no Sato_

_-In Taki no Kuni_

Kurotsuchi sat with her knees up to her chest as she stared at the grass below the top of the dry lava construct. Her dull-pink eyes stared emptily at the waving blades of grass. She heaved a heavy sigh and looked past the forest shadows and stared at the bright red horizon. The bright red sun shined and bathed the world in a bright maroon light. Eyes trailing back and forth throughout the clearing, Kurotsuchi looked away.

"Nee-chan!" Kaede's voice sounded from behind. "Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine Imōto…" Kurotsuchi replied. "I'm just thinking of things…"

"You're just worrying about my brother…" Kaede smirked. "Trust me…he'll be fine…I hope…"

"Yeah…" Kurotsuchi shook her head and jumped off the top of the lava construct and sat next to the redhead.

"What's our next move nee-chan?" Kaede asked.

"First things first…after what we've been getting from you for the past two weeks since your encounter with the Okano sisters…" Kuro started. "We need to get that damned seal off of you…then we can try to find what to do next."

"Ok…" Kaede opened her kimono to reveal her nude form. "Channel chakra now right?"

"Yeah." Kurotsuchi said as she sped through hand seals. "I think this will work. I read up on some fuinjutsu scrolls and found this jutsu…"

"You think!?" Kaede asked incredulously. "What'll happen if it works?"

"It'll unlock your chakra once more…" Kurotsuchi trailed off. "Or…"

"Or what?" Kaede asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well…it could…completely destroy your chakra coils…."

"Well that's reassuring…" Kaede grumbled.

"Just deal with it, big tits." Kurotsuchi replied with a giggle. Kaede glared and looked away with an embarrassed blush.

**"Gogyō Kaiin!"** Kurotsuchi's fingertips glowed an ominous light blue with faint kanji in the center of each flame.

Kaede channeled more chakra into her seal making it completely visible. The five extra seals were seen around the original seal. Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath. She shot her hand forward and rammed the five little chakra flames onto the five new seals surrounding the central seal. Kaede growled slightly and felt her chakra control and chakra reserves returning to her, albeit slowly. Kaede shook violently but then collapsed down onto the ground with heavy breaths.

"T-Thanks…" Kaede gasped out. "T-That…h-hurt…"

"At least y-you're alive…" Kurotsuchi laughed.

"Damn…" Kaede gasped once more. "Ok…now that we've got the stupid seal off of me, what do we do now?"

"Ok…let's pool information that we have." Kurotsuchi said. "My cousin said something about a plan."

"Yeah…I remember you saying something like that." Kaede replied. "But here lies the question; what the fuck is the plan?"

"I have no idea." Kurotsuchi replied. "If the plan all along was just to rid the elemental nations of the Senju and Uchiha, they did a pretty bad job of it…"

"No. It has to be something else…" Kaede said. "That seems too black and white for something of this caliber. If what he said about Inoichi being the one who attacked Naruto-nii, then that makes it three very reliable sources giving us the same information."

"First, Tao. Second, the Wolf, and finally, Kiyohisa." Kurotsuchi counted with her fingers. "I will have to believe that it's safe to say that the Yamanaka's are planning something with my brother…"

"Any ideas?"

_ -Somewhere in Konohagakure…_

It was calm in the beginning of the sunrise, but as the sky began to pain in the dark red hue, a once dark room was lit from within. Once the light hit the occupants, it came to reveal black cloaks with red clouds dancing around the body and torso. They were silent and waited for the red dawn to overtake the waking village. But they weren't just any random run-of-the-mill shinobi, no; they were clansmen.

One by one they removed the straw hats from their heads to reveal the faces of the Clan heads of the major clans of Konoha. The first to remove his hat was Yamanaka Inoichi; followed by Nara Shikaku; then Akimichi Chouza. After the Akimichi, came Aburame Shibi; Inuzuka Tsume, and they finished off with Hyuuga Hiashi and his twin brother Hyuuga Hizashi. They each looked at each other with the hardest of glares and stares; each one examining the will and the ability of each member of the room.

They were sworn to secrecy and swore by their blood and their descendant's blood, that they would rid Konoha of the Senju and Uchiha and their supporters. As it was the Uchiha clan was all but wiped out with Uchiha Sasuke as the only survivor. Good thing Shikaku and Hizashi were quick in apprehending Itachi. The Kage Mane and Jyuken do wonderful things. The only clans remaining that supported the Senju throne were the Shimura, Sarutobi and many smaller, but still influential clans.

"What are we to do about the Namikaze family?" Hiashi asked calmly. "You know as well as I that the Kiiroi Senko won't step down easily, and how are we going to handle the Kogane no ōji?"

"The Namikaze's will be handled in due time Hiashi." Inoichi replied. "The Ōji though…we'll see if he wakes up in time."

"Understood Leader-sama."

_-__In Taki no Kuni…_

"Well this conversation got us nowhere…" Kurotsuchi sighed in defeat. "Ok…since we're going to be a permanent team, we should tell each other all of our skills and abilities."

"How about you go first?" Kaede asked.

"Alright." Kurotsuchi smirked. "My name is Yamauchi Kurotsuchi. Alias; Yougan-hime no Iwa. My abilities are: Youton (Lava release), Jiton (Magnet Release), Jōton (Steam release), Jinton (Dust release), Bakuton (Explosion release) and recently, Shakuton (Scorch release). I don't know why the hell I keep unlocking knew kekkei genkai, but I love it!"

'Holy fuck…' Kurama and Kaede gawked at the same time.

'Naruto-kun sure knows how to choose women…' Kurama's eyes were wide with amazement. 'Just imagine how powerful their child could have become…'

"Ok my turn!" Kaede smiled. "My name is Namikaze-Senju Kaede. Alias; Aka-hime no Konoha. My abilities are: Katon (Fire release), Fuuton (Wind release), Raiton (Lightning release), Doton (Earth release), and Suiton (Water release). I was learning how to create Mokuton (Wood release) ninjutsu, but gave up for Fuinjutsu. I am also highly proficient with the Hiraishin and rasengan combination like my father and brother."

'Hot damn…' Kurotsuchi's eyes twitched slightly. 'Powerhouses…'

"So now that we have all of that out of the way…" Kaede smiled. "What's next nee-chan?"

"I don't even know where to begin…" Kurotsuchi replied. "First we have to snag one of the Okano sisters so we could get to Tetsui…but then again…seeing his ruthlessness with Kiyohisa, his favorite student, I can't imagine what he'd do to his own daughters…"

"Well…we also need to get information on the other commanders under Han." Kaede said.

"But we need to get the information from him first before we make any more against our enemies." Kurotsuchi said, choosing to be the voice of reason. "We can't just charge blindly through Tsuchi no kuni without getting spotted or worse, get raped."

"Way to freak me out Nee-chan…" Kaede growled.

"Just thinking realistically here." Kurotsuchi said. "What would you do if you were some lowly criminal and you saw two bombshells like us?"

"Well I'd stay away since we are two very beautiful but dangerous bombshells." Kaede replied with a smirk.

"Never mind." Kurotsuchi growled.

"Heh." Kaede giggled. "Ok now that that's out, we need to make this plan."

"You got it." Kurotsuchi replied. "So from what I can remember, the Okano mansion is deep in the rocky terrain of Tsuchi no kuni, but I highly doubt that they'll make it that easy for you to get them."

"If you don't mind me asking…" Kaede started. "But…how do you know them besides through your brother's Manto?"

"Well…" Kurotsuchi said. "Yasuha is my brother's fiancée."

"W-Well then…" Kaede's eyes were wide with fear. "That is really freaky…"

"No kidding." Kurotsuchi laughed. "Anyway…"

"What are their frequent places?" Kaede asked with a scroll in her hand and a calligraphy brush in the other.

"There's no need for that Imōto." Kuro said while taking the scroll from Kaede's hands. "They never go to the same place more than twice."

"Why not?!" Kaede was surprised.

"Their father is a heavy believer in the Strength of Stone and he is also extremely paranoid." Kuro said. "That's why he was able to convince my father and grandfather to train Hatomi in Jinton and the flying techniques."

"What about Yasuha?" Kaede asked.

"She is easily one of the fastest women on the planet." Kuro said bluntly. "Some say that she might even become as fast as I am."

"And how fast are you?" Kaede asked.

"Almost as fast as your brother." Kuro replied. "And we all know how fast your brother is. He's faster than your father for crying out loud."

"That's even without the hiraishin and bijuu cloak." Kaede piped.

"Exactly." Kurotsuchi sighed. "To tell you the truth, I have no idea how she got that fast, but she's a very powerful kenjutsu specialist. Whenever she defeats her opponents, she steals their swords or weapons and forges them into one sword that she can pull apart and use separately."

"Sounds like a bit of a handful to me…"

"That's because it is." Kuro said getting serious. "She doesn't play like I do. She kills because she loves it. She fights because it's all she knows. She's textbook psychopath and sociopath. When we were younger, I'd always be learning about being a princess or hang out with other noble daughters, but Yasuha and Hatomi were always training…I watched them kill an innocent man at the age of seven…it was horrifying…and now that they were a part of Han's Manto, it didn't help with their mental state."

"So…" Kaede looked away. "My sword…"

"She's going to reforge it and piece it together into her multi-sword. Already she has seven…not including your sword…" Kurotsuchi said. "She will use your own blade against you."

"That bitch…" Kaede growled. "That sword is extremely important to me…"

_Flashback…_

"Kaede-chan!" A soft but caring voice sounded from across the courtyard.

A young five year old Kaede Namikaze looked back to see her mother walking up to her with a long box with a decorative embroidering. There were two majestic dragons spiraling from one end to the other. Once the two dragons interlocked with one another, in between their embrace was a beautiful red Uzumaki swirl in the center, cradled safely by the two dragons.

"Well open it!" Kushina smiled as she placed the box down in front of her daughter.

Kaede slowly unhitched the tooth used as a lock and lifted the lid off the box to reveal a katana in a beautiful casing. Designed with the utmost beauty, the sword looked like a work of art. Kaede's jaw dropped as she examined the handle rope embroidered with gold, making it stand out with a bold flair. She picked up the katana and found that its hand guard was missing. She drew out the blade to find the Uzumaki swirl etched into the base of the blade.

The girl drew the sword from its case completely and felt chakra radiate into the swirl at the base. The energy was pulsating throughout the blade and made Kaede's mind and heart flutter in the amazing pulse of the chakra. The sword had a small vibrative tinge to it, causing her body to feel at ease. Kaede looked at the blade and smiled at its perfect length. The sword was just a little above two feet in length, including the handle. Its weight was perfect and the sword swung with ease.

But what made the blade special to Kaede was that this blade was a gift from her mother and her people. She glanced back at the blade and back to her mother and realized that her once always armed mother, was now weaponless. It only took a few moments for the redhead to piece it together. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she came to the realization that her mother had gifted her own sword to her. Kaede's heart nearly exploded when she realized that the sword was the weapon used by the most famous person in all of Uzushiogakure; Uzumaki Kushina.

"Don't worry about it my love." Kushina bent down and gave her daughter a small kiss on her forehead. "This sword was a gift from my mother, and from her mother, and so on and so forth…it only seems right that you have it as well…"

"T-Thank you Kaa-chan!" Kaede charged forward and grabbed her mother in for a tight hug.

_Flashback over…_

"Well I think we should go back to getting to know each other better!" Kurotsuchi smiled trying to lighten the mood.

"Good idea." Kaede smiled as she laid back into the grass.

"Well…what are your likes?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"Well…I really like Ramen."

"Of course." Kurotsuchi giggled.

"I like a certain Uchiha." Kaede smiled softly.

"Well then…" Kurotsuchi looked away with an awkward feeling in her pit.

"Don't worry. He's fine." Kaede laughed while sitting up.

"Oh…" Kurotsuchi sighed in relief. "Thank Kami for that at least…"

"Again…don't worry." Kaede quickly replied. "I'll handle him…So. What about you?"

"I like spicy food. Like really spicy food." Kurotsuchi smiled.

"Indeed." Kaede high-fived the Lava Princess.

"And I really like your brother…" Kurotsuchi blushed slightly. "I just wish that we could have been together without all of this bullshit having to happen."

"I agree Nee-chan." Kaede reached over and grabbed a bottle of water and took a few gulps before laying back into the grass.

"I wonder if Nii-san is awake yet…"

_-__Somewhere in Tsuchi no Kuni…_

In the deep and dark caverns of the mountainous regions of the Land of Earth was a large room made for a king, but in this case, a prince. The prince was sitting in a golden throne and surrounded by steam. In front of him was a large war table with three men situated around the table. One was an old man with grey spikey hair and a zanbato at his side. His name is Uemura Soichiro. Leader of the Uemura clan, formerly of Iwa. Behind him stood members of his clan, decked out in their traditional battle armor.

Next to Soichiro, was a large and muscular man. Almost as old as the Uemura himself, the man had a kanabo at his side with metal studs. He was wearing black armor that had a large grey stripe that went horizontally from his right shoulder and down to his left side. His hair was greying and he had a few scars on his cheeks and across his nose. His name is Manabu Ige. Leader of the Manabu clan, formerly of Iwa. Behind him stood members of his clan, wearing their traditional armor, which seemed to be replicas of his own wardrobe.

The members around the table ended with Okano Tetsui. The young but old man was sitting with Hatomi right behind him. Yasuha had joined Han on a chair next to his and had her arm wrapped tightly with Hans. The Okano's had risen to power quickly within the Kuroi Manto and had gained presence in the war meetings especially since half the Manto was dead because of one person. Tetsui smiled to himself since Kiyohisa was just a pawn, despite being so close to the ruling Yamauchi's.

'The Okano family will rise…and leave you Yamauchi's in the dust.' Tetsui smirked to himself. 'Who do you think made the Kamizuru force the little Yougan-hime into a political marriage?'

Han paid no heed to Tetsui's incessant staring and innate inaudible ramblings and continued to glare intently at the war table in front of him. He studied and memorized the troop placements for both his former nation and his enemy's nation. Already it seemed that Konoha was already getting ready for a counter offensive to start off the war, but it seemed that they were missing someone, the Ōji.

The Ōji that defiled his sister's body. The Ōji that defiled his sister's mind. The damned Ōji that filled her mind with false hope of a better life, the same damned Ōji that forced his sister to betray her people. Han wanted to be the one to kill the prince, but he knew that if the prince would have died that night, then all of the meticulous planning of his organization would have been for nothing. Han thought as he stared at the pieces.

The Ōji wasn't supposed to be out for this long. Han narrowed his eyes at the five villages of Konoha and the five villages of Iwa. Both of them were his enemies now, for he was no longer one of the black cloaked. He was rising from the darkness that swelled within and was going to shine like the coming red dawn. He was no longer a Kuroi Manto…no…he was…is…an Akatsuki.

"A new world order is arising…" Han started. His deep voice rumbling from behind his mask. "From the chaos that is to ensue, the Akatsuki will be there to pick the pieces up…one by one. The elemental nations will fall into our plan and we will unite the shinobi world under one flag, and end the endless killing and violence once and for all. We will be in control, not those corrupt Yamauchi, Kamizuru, Senju, Uchiha…we have already eradicated two of them…all that is left is the final two."

Han stood from his seat.

"I am no longer Yamauchi Han…" He removed his helmet and removed his mask. "I am simply Han. No surname, no allegiance."

"Understood, Han-sama…" The three commanders bowed their heads to the Leader of the Akatsuki cell of Tsuchi no Kuni. "What are your orders?"

"Start recruitment of more troops and shinobi. We'll need to take back Okushin-jo, before my former father can get his hands on it." Han said. "I also want Yasuha and Hatomi to take a few Uemura with them and track down the Aka-hime no Konoha."

"Hmm. I thought we finished her off…" Yasuha frowned.

"I just want to make sure that she is out of the fight for good. I don't want any interruptions with the operation." Han said. "It is of utmost importance that you don't mess this up my love."

"I promise that I won't…" Yasuha smirked and headed out of the door with her raiding party behind her.

From the mountains came a small wave of men and women all decked out in traditional armor over black cloaks with red clouds. The wave split up into multiple three man teams and spread out into the rocky wasteland of the Tsuchi no kuni in search of possible candidates for the army, while Yasuha and Hatomi charged through the more tree filled region leading towards Taki no Kuni.

Little did anyone know, Yasuha happened to have a very powerful sensory technique and could feel where almost anyone was throughout the entire shinobi world. But the maximum distance that she could sense is almost a million miles in all directions including up and down. The girl had trained exclusively on its work, and even managed to take on a few apprentices that had the same chakra capacities that she had. Yasuha smirked at her luck. She was going to finish off the red-princess of Konoha for good. She was pretty damn sure of it too.

But what she didn't take into account was, what that the Aka-hime had met the lava princess and wanted the entire operation to collapse and fail miserably. Neither of them was ready for the surprise that was waiting for them on the other end of the road. The two of them charged through the canyons and riversides and dry riverbeds and dashed through rock rain and landslides with their Uemura behind them.

On Hatomi's back was a large staff made from pure black metal that was supposedly mined from a fallen meteorite. Others said that it was a gift from Kami and it was blessed with supernatural powers, even stronger than chakra. On Yasuha's back was a large zanbato, but upon closer inspection, you would see little lines and creases in the center of some of those lines to find that the lines meant that it was a part of something else, as if that piece of metal had been welded to the sword.

Yasuha smirked at the newest addition to her large zanbato. It was the easiest to notice since it had the Uzumaki swirl etched into it by fuinjutsu and chakra infused. It took a long while to crack the seals, and the redheaded Iwa girl only got as far as getting rid of the effects of a foreigner using the weapon. Apparently, the Aka-hime had programmed the blade to be unusable by anyone who picks it up. She couldn't help but feel the sting of her words to the Namikaze. The sword was in actuality, a really good sword. The Uzumaki of Uzushio was probably some of the best swordsmen and sword makers. There was never a such thing as a bad Uzushio sword. Never.

"A weak bitch like the Aka-hime doesn't deserve a sword like this…"

_-__Somewhere in Taki no kuni…five weeks later…_

Kaede was panting heavily as sweat poured from her dirty face. After she and Kurotsuchi had gotten to know each other a little better, the two began a small training spar and went nearly all out. They had to stop because they knew that if either were to show their true potential, then they would have given their enemy their encampment. They didn't have time to deal with the Konoha search teams or Iwa search teams from the Namikaze and Yamauchi. They had more important things at hand, such as countering Hatomi's Jinton and Yasuha's insane speed.

Already Kaede was taught how to evade the jinton attacks by trying to master the hiraishin to her brother's level, but it still wasn't perfect. Kurotsuchi was also training hard to get her jinton up to par with Hatomi's. It has been three weeks since their training began and three weeks since, they have been gathering information on the Okano sisters. As time went by they were slowly able to piece everything together, little by little.

"Hey…" Kurotsuchi suddenly said.

"Hmm?" Kaede replied. "What is it?" Kaede dropped down and grabbed a bottle of water and downed it in one gulp.

"I've been thinking…remember that last recon mission that we did?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"Of course how could I forget?" Kaede replied. "It was probably the most rewarding of them all?"

"Well…remember that one guy…?" Kuro asked.

"Which one?" Kaede opened another bottle of water and raised an eyebrow.

"Well then. I guess I'm going to have to explain everything…" Kuro laughed.

_Flashback…_

_-Kosumi city…Tsuchi no Kuni…_

Kaede and Kurotsuchi were walking through the main strip of the city. All around were casinos and some very shady buildings. Alleyways filled with gangsters and the streets filled with drunks and whores. The air reeked of cum and smoke. Not really a place for princesses. But the two were on a mission. They had followed a lead from one of their prisoners that they tortured to death and followed it to the city.

Kurotsuchi heard of the city but was never allowed to go because of her lineage. Not once did she ever think she would have to stoop so low to head into a place like this. Not once did she ever even want to go to a place like this. But now that she's here, she wishes she could turn the other way around. She hated her henge. She hated Kaede's henge. She hated the people leering and drooling at their figure. Kurotsuchi sighed. Of all things, why did she feel that she was regretting her choice in transformation?

She was a shorthaired redhead with dark green eyes. Her face was lean and of the most perfect proportions. Her body was curvaceous, even though it wasn't as curvy as her actual body, it was a close second. Her skin was flawless and without blemish of any kind. Kurotsuchi sighed as she fixed her hair once more and looked over to her teammate. Kaede herself was just as gorgeous as her normal self, but seemed to have curlier hair. The red of her strands was increased and seemed to be on fire. Her skin was tanned with the whisker marks hidden from sight. Her eyes were now the same color as her brothers.

"Hey there pretty lady…?" The man looked drunk out of his mind. But the most interesting thing about the man was that he was wearing a black cloak with red clouds dancing around the body of cloak. He was wearing a strange suit of black armor. But Kurotsuchi could tell this type from anywhere.

'Uemura…but…what's with the red clouds?' Kurotsuchi thought to herself.

"Hey…" Kaede replied with a shy expression. Kurotsuchi smiled at the convincing reply.

"I was wondering if you might want to you know…" He trailed off. "Have some…fun."

"As long as my sister can join." Kaede said with a sly smirk.

"The more the merrier!"

_A few hours later…Taki no Kuni…_

"GAAHH!" The screams rang throughout the forest clearing.

"Scream all you want bastard!" Kaede growled. "No one's going to hear you!"

The man was tied tightly to a wheel spinning on an earth spike. All the while, Kaede clones were striking his limbs with rock clubs. He cried out in pain as his body was stretched and broken to dust. Blood was pouring from the multiple holes in his body. After a few minutes of the heinous torture, Kurotsuchi reached up and stopped the spinning wheel.

The clones reached up and unhinged the wheel and laid it out against the rock spike. Blood was flowing from his mouth. His arms were numb and his legs were gone. He felt nothing. His body felt like shit and already there were insects trying to eat on his decaying flesh. His arms were too powdered to swat them away.

"Now then you little shit." Kaede growled as she shattered a stone club across his temple. "Give us the information we want or it's back to the wheel for you."

"N-No…please…" he whimpered. "Please!"

"Then fucking tell me." Kaede growled.

"I…I…" The Uemura whimpered in pain. "I don't want to die…"

"You're not going to die if you just give us the information." Kurotsuchi said.

"I won't listen to you!" The man spat. "You traitorous bitch!"

"Don't talk about her that way!" Kaede pressed her foot against his shattered knee, eliciting a heavy squeal of pain.

"No. Kaede." Kurotsuchi stood up and walked up to her and placed a hand on Kaede's shoulder. "I'll handle him…"

"Oh. So the Ōji's whore is coming torture me…" He laughed. "What are you going to do huh? Spread those legs of yours?!"

"No." Kurotsuchi sat down in front of the man and held out her hand. She tilted her head slightly and grabbed his groin tightly. He laughed a bit and had a small smirk on his face.

"Aw…Is the Hime missing some Iwa cock?!" He spat on her face.

"…" Kurotsuchi kept her emotionless face.

"I bet I have a bigger cock than the Ōji, right!" He started laughing maniacally. "I-I even bet I can be a better lover-"

Suddenly her grip tightened, sucking the air from his lungs. He looked down to see a darker look in Kurotsuchi's eyes. Her once pink irides were burning with an intense inferno. Her eyebrows furrowed deeply as she glared into his soul.

"I swear…" Kuro sounded slightly demonic. "I don't care if you trash me…but…if you trash the love of my life…YOU'LL **FUCKING PAY!**"

Demonic chakra mixed with her lava release chakra and began to slowly and painfully melt his genitals. Kurotsuchi's eyes also changed once more. The irides were a dark black with a white slit going down the center. Dark whisker marks formed on her cheeks as the demonic chakra took over her body for the moment.

"**I swear…I will enjoy listening to your screams!**" Kurotsuchi growled. "**But you will give me what I want!**"

"T-The…Akatsuki…" He cried. "T-The Akatsuki…"

"**The what?!**" Kurotsuchi roared as she channeled more demonic chakra. "**Tell me scum!**"

"The new world order…" He moaned. His face seemed sunken and…dead. "The new world order must…survive…"

"**You…you…stop stalling!**" Kurotsuchi tightened her grip on his groin.

"W-We…the Okano's…" The Uemura began to cry. He looked at her and gave her a pleading look. "I...I can't tell you…"

"**Then you're of no use to me…**" Kurotsuchi surged her chakra, and completely melted his genitals off of his body. "**DIE!**"

His screams rang throughout the clearing and scared a few of the forest animals. But in the end, he died from the shock of pain that shot from his lower body. Kurotsuchi rose from her position on the ground and turned to see a dumbfounded Kaede.

"What?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"Nothing…it's just that…well…" Kaede burst into laughter. "You are amazing!"

_Flashback end…_

"What about it?" Kaede replied after hearing the entire story play out. "So what, you burned off the genitals of an Uemura?"

"No, not that." Kurotsuchi sighed. "I mean with what he said."

"That 'new world order' spiel?" Kaede asked with a raised eyebrow. "Did seem a bit…strange. And that 'Akatsuki' crap he was mumbling about. Red Dawn? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I-I don't know…" Kurotsuchi leaned into the grass of the clearing and laid her back against a wall of dry lava. "I…really don't know…"

_-__In Konohagakure…_

"Ah! Welcome Inoichi!" Tsunade smiled at the man. "It's been a while since we've seen each other."

"Indeed it has Sandaime." Inoichi bowed to the former Hokage. "I was wondering if Yondaime-sama would allow me to have a meeting with him. It is of the utmost importance."

"I'll let him know. Just wait here…" Tsunade replied. "It'll take a while so…just make yourself at home."

Once Tsunade had left the receiving room to head to the throne room, Inoichi went to work. He sped through some quick hand seals and channeled an almost invisible amount of chakra and hypnotized the guards surrounding the grand foyer. They walked off from their posts and started slapping explosive tags on important and weak parts of the castle. All the while Inoichi was smiling to himself as he sipped his tea. He sat down on a couch and commended himself on his mind jutsu's. The hypnotized guards finished placing the tags, Inoichi then made sure that they hid them from sight. Once they finished, he dispelled his jutsu.

The guards looked at each other with strange looks but shook it off and walked off back to their posts. They all looked at each other with the same 'Will of Fire' burning in their eyes. Inoichi smirked to himself. The war was going to change the war, and now that the Uchiha and the Senju were out of the picture, the rest of the clans could finally make their mark on Konoha. As an interrogator, he kept his emotions in check and made sure that he couldn't be read.

He went over his faults and strengths. As it was, he had undying support from the Nara and Akimichi clans. The Inuzuka and Hyuuga was a close second and the Aburame were making it up there. Even though those clans were powerful and rich, Inoichi still felt that he needed to have at least the Shimura if not the Sarutobi clan on his side. But he knew that both clans were the most devout followers of the Senju/Uchiha regime.

The Sarutobi outnumbered the Akimichi, Nara, Yamanaka and Inuzuka combined, so Inoichi really needed to play his cards right. The only problem was that the Sarutobi was being run by that old geezer, Hiruzen, a relic of the first and second great wars; an antique of the days of the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage's. The Shimura were no better either. They were being run by Hiruzen's best friend, Danzo. The old war hawk was also in command of Konoha's ROOT, whom of which would stop at nothing to stop the Yamanaka's plans.

'Tch…I guess I'll have to confer with Shikaku about this later…' Inoichi smirked to himself. 'But first I must get the battle strategies to Minato.'

"Inoichi-san." An ANBU showed up in front of the clan head. "Hokage-sama is ready for your presence."

"Understood. Lead the way." Inoichi smiled softly to himself as the ANBU hadn't noticed the explosive tags anywhere.

'The Senju will fall…' Inoichi thought to himself. 'All in good time…'

_-__In Taki no Kuni…_

Kaede and Kurotsuchi had just returned from one of the nearby cities and laid out their shopping bags with big smiles.

Kaede had changed her outfit beneath her golden armor and wore a dark green and dark brown kimono underneath the golden breastplate. Her red hair flowed freely while Kurotsuchi curled it. Kaede had also received her weapon she ordered almost three weeks prior. She had met this man that went by the name of Masamune. He was a wandering sword smith that Kaede felt that she needed to get a weapon from.

She spent probably two million ryo for just a chokutō, but Kaede sure as hell hoped that it was worth it. She nodded her head to Kurotsuchi and grabbed her sword and unsheathed it revealing a beautiful pitch black blade with a blood red slicing edge. She looked down at the base of the blade and found the Uzumaki swirl design as a hole just above the hand guard. She channeled chakra into the weapon, and the sword exploded in flames. The swirl was the source of the power. She canceled her chakra flow and channeled wind chakra to the blade and the blade became engulfed in a beautiful and elegant sheath of wind.

Kurotsuchi backed away and formed an earth golem. The golem stood straight and stared at Kaede with a blank expression and held its arms up for defense. Kaede held the wind covered blade forward and brought it over her head and narrowed her eyes at the golem. She swung down sending a massive blade of wind towards the golem, slicing it in half vertically. Kurotsuchi's eyes were wide with surprise. Kaede was just as dumbfounded.

"T-That was fucking amazing!" Kurotsuchi laughed. "Take on these three golems!"

"On it!" Kaede charged forward with the katana held out.

The redhead weaved in between the first as it swung for her, and sliced for its torso, cleaving the stone golem in half. Kaede's eyes shot open. The blade wasn't even enhanced with chakra. Kaede jumped forward with her katana held in front of her as she channeled earth chakra into the blade. The Uzumaki sigil seemed to darken and turn black just like the rest of the blade.

One of the golems saw her moment of surprise and charged for her. The rock golem punched forward aiming to break her sword, but was once again, everyone was surprised at the result. The blade had broken the golem's fist and shattered its forearm. The blade itself seemed to be unblemished. Every sword before this one, other than the ones from Uzushio, would break even with earth chakra flowing in it. Even Uzushio swords would shatter from an earth golem attack.

The golem backed away stumbling in pain as its shattered arm began to reform. Kaede took a deep breath and charged ahead with earth chakra shooting off the blade. She jumped up and slashed forward, but instead of the blade going clean through the golem's head, the head exploded outwards in all directions, showering the final golem in the remains of its golem brother's head.

Kaede canceled the chakra flow and replaced it with the opposite of earth, lightning. She smirked as the lightning shot from the Uzumaki sigil and conducted through the blade. It went from black to a beautiful electrifying blue. Her body was drowned in a pale blue light as the lightning began to spread. Her red hair flittered through the wind. A small smirk preyed on her lips as she hunched over getting ready to charge the final opponent.

The golem hunched over as well into its own stance. A wall of rock rose and formed a shield around the golem's arm and body. Kaede only smirked at the challenge. Channeling lightning chakra and wind chakra to her legs and feet, she blasted forward and made a wide arched slash, slicing through the defense and the golem at the same time. Once the lightning died down, the golem was still standing, but once Kaede sheathed her sword, the golem exploded outwards into the sky.

Small shards of rocks and stones rained upon the clearing. All the while Kaede and Kurotsuchi were laughing their hardest at the amazing show of power. They were amazed at the power of such a simple blade. Kaede sat down next to Kurotsuchi and smiled softly. Kuro dropped down and sat next to Kaede.

"You know…" Kaede started. "At first I wanted to kill you…"

"R-Really?" Kurotsuchi asked with wide eyes. A heavy and awkward silence settled into the clearing. "W-Why?"

"I thought you betrayed my brother…" Kaede replied, but looked at Kurotsuchi with a small smile. "Now…I can't help but to make sure you live."

"Is that so?" Kurotsuchi asked while motioning her to continue.

"Well…aren't you going to marry Naruto-nii?" Kaede asked innocently.

"Y-You approve?!" Kurotsuchi asked with tears forming in her eyes. "What about your family?"

"I don't care about what they think Nee-chan." Kaede replied. "Just as long as my approval is given, you can have my brother!"

"I-I don't know what to say…" Kurotsuchi replied.

"How about this: Just wait until all of this is over. After hunt down your brother, and when my brother wakes up." Kaede said. "We'll sneak out of the villages and head to the Uchiha Hideout that I'm pretty sure my brother told you about. You two will get married and run away to Uzushio or somewhere neutral!"

"What about you?" Kurotsuchi asked. "How are we going to get all of the resources and con-?"

"Don't worry about it Nee-chan!" Kaede flashed a thumbs up. "Let me worry about it! Think of it as a wedding gift! Dattebayo!"

"D-Dattebayo?" Kaede asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh…heheh…I'm sorry. I thought I out grew it…" Kaede replied with a sheepish grin. "It's something I got from my mother y'know?"

"I see…a verbal tick right?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"Yeah! That!" Kaede laughed. "Know someone with one?"

"Yeah…he was a good friend of mine." Kurotsuchi replied. "He…well…he died not too long ago…his name was Deidara. He thought of his explosives as art and constantly blew up villages and cities just to express his artistic value to the world."

"W-Well then…Iwa sounds like a swell place for mentally stable shinobi…" Kaede deadpanned. 'First the Okano's then this Deidara character…what the hell is wrong with Iwa?!'

"Heheh…he was also kinda…my first crush?" Kurotsuchi said with a small blush.

"Ok so man who blows up cities and villages, and now the fastest man in the world who can slaughter a million men in less than a second?" Kaede said with an exasperated look on her face. "What is with you and these over powered men?!"

"Well…" Kurotsuchi giggled. "I find men with power…sexy. Deidara also had really cute blond hair and cute blue eyes…but nothing compared to Naruto-kun…."

"Uhuh…I get it. No need to get mushy." Kaede giggled. "Now then…it's what…four in the afternoon…what do we do now?"

"I don't know Imōto." Kurotsuchi replied.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes as they sharpened their weapons, ate some food and looked over their connections map of the conspirators and perpetrators of the massacre. But after the second hour passed, there was a sudden disturbance with one of the defense seals that Kaede had placed about the forest surrounding the clearing.

"Something's coming…two huge ch- It's the Okano sisters!" Kaede dashed from their little cottage of dry lava and grabbed her sword. Once Kaede got out onto the field, a blood red blur zoomed past her and nicked her cheek.

"Kaede!" Kurotsuchi charged out but felt a familiar chakra signature. "Fuck!"

**"Jinton: Hakuri no jutsu!"** The shout came from above. Kurotsuchi sped through quick hand seals and shot off the same jutsu.

The explosion was beautiful and blinding at the same time. All the while, vaporizing the clearing along with all of the remnants of Kurotsuchi and Naruto's nights from long ago. Once the light died down, it came to reveal a deep crater and a large group of shinobi standing in the center.

On one side stood Kaede and Kurotsuchi. Kaede's sword glowing with fire chakra and Kurotsuchi was surrounded by white hot magatama of scorch release. The two looked powerful but on the other side of the crater stood Okano Yasuha with wind chakra flowing off of her body. She was bouncing on her heels as she narrowed her eyes at Kaede. Next to her was Okano Hatomi hovering above the ground. In her hands was a spinning three-dimensional pyramid with a glowing center. Behind them were at least eighteen Uemura clansmen with their signature sickle swords drawn.

"Well, well, well…" Yasuha spat.

"Isn't it the great Yougan-hime no Iwa." Hatomi finished.

"You traitorous bitch!" Yasuha charged forward at only half speed.

Even then the girl was just a blur, but she was moving slow enough to catch on to the hiraishin kunai flying dangerously close. In less than a second, Kaede was in front of her with her new blade drawn. Yasuha smirked slightly at the new weapon that she had hoped to add to her collection. In a quick blur, the redhead of Iwa drew out her zanbato and clashed with the black chokutō of Kaede.

Sparks exploded off of their clashed blades. The two struggled for dominance as they pulsed chakra into their weapons. Kaede grew tired of their stalemate and sent a punch at Yasuha's gut, weakening her hold. The redheaded Namikaze took advantage and sent a roundhouse kick, forcing Yasuha away a few feet. Yasuha stabbed her zanbato into the ground and drew out a simple kunai knife and charged at Kaede.

They clashed once more, but Kaede had tossed a hiraishin kunai quick enough to flash behind Yasuha. She had a rasengan in her hand and smashed it into the girl, but the girl popped into smoke and a log took her place. Kaede growled at her luck and wafted through the smoke. Once the smoke dissipated, it came to reveal five Uemura clansmen with their swords drawn.

Each one glared at the Namikaze and charged for her. Kaede weaved in between the first two and kicked the third back. The fourth came around and Kaede simply slashed across his chest, killing him and leaving her with four enemies. The girl was surprised at how easy it was, but filed that away for another time. She flashed away once more and rammed a rasengan into the base of the neck of an Uemura. Once the shinobi was down she closed the distance with another, engaging him in a battle of kenjutsu.

Her katana slid on the curved blade of the sickle, slightly aggravating her. She bashed the sword back and dropped to a crouched position and spun on her knee, slicing the legs out from under the Uemura. Once his body hit the ground, she stabbed him through the gut. But before she could take the sword from his body, the last two charged for her and slashed wildly, each one taking a few strands of hair, and scratching her golden armor.

She caught one of the swords in her hands and snapped the blade into shards with the right amount of chakra embedded in her palms. In the Uemura's moment of confusion, she kicked him in the gut, sending him back a few feet, allowing her some breathing room from the other Uemura. Once she got the distance closed, she punched the Uemura in the jaw, and quickly turned to block the punch coming from the Uemura behind her with a kick.

She brought her foot around at lightning fast speeds and smashed her foot against the main Uemura. She smiled slightly when the shinobi stumbled with blood pouring from the corners of his lips. She swiveled around and elbowed the other Uemura, making him lose his bearings. He stumbled and Kaede took full advantage of his weakness. She drop kicked the man, shattering his ribcage, sending sharp bone fragments drilling into his lungs and heart.

She turned her attention to the other Uemura and found him trying to draw out a weapon. Kaede shook her head and calmly walked up to the nervous shinobi. He saw her and tried to send a punch, but she easily blocked it. He tried to send another punch, but that too was easily blocked. He sent a kick, but Kaede caught his leg and pulled him in. Once his legs were spread, she took her arm and crushed his knee and bent his caught leg the wrong way, completely destroying his leg. He yelped in pain, but Kaede drew out one of his kunai and jammed it into his throat.

"Kami your screams are deafening…" Kaede wiped some of the blood from her forehead that squirted from his lacerated throat. She looked at the dead Uemura that still had her sword in his gut. But just as she went for it, a loud shout rang around her.

"Take this!"

Kaede felt the chakra disturbance but didn't see any jutsu coming for her. But then felt something else. It felt a lot like a fuinjutsu release.

**"Hachi Ken'no mai!" ** Kaede heard a slight hiss and turned to see the zanbato explode outwards. Eight swords floated around her in a ten foot diameter circle. She narrowed her eyes at her new situation and found that each sword fit like puzzle piece with each other. She then found it; her old sword, now ruined with the sigil of the Okano Clan. Three circles in a triangle formation with a circle at each corner. Lines drew connecting them to on another. To finish off the sigil were the arrows pointing outwards from the circles. They started from within and moved outwards. Kaede could see the burned off Uzumaki swirl on the metal.

"Feel the wrath of my newest technique, Konoha-bitch!" Yasuha's voice echoed around her.

Kaede felt Yasuha's chakra flare. She couldn't see the girl though. Where the hell is she? Suddenly, one of the other blades started glowing and shot forward for the redheaded girl. Kaede dodged at the last second but felt the results of a light electrocution. Kaede jumped back and clashed her katana with one of the other blades. It just so happened to bear resemblance to the lightning blades; Kiba; of Kirigakure no Sato. How Yasuha had gotten her hands on one of the seven legendary swords of the mist, Kaede will never know. But what she did know was that she couldn't slack off.

Yasuha was no joke if she could get her hands on the Kiba. Kaede was struggling to keep her sensory skills up to stay on the speeding demon. Kaede dropped to the grass when the zanbato of the eight flashed for her, barely missing as it nicked the back of her neck. Kaede pushed herself off the ground and jumped over one of the Kiba blades as it came for a leg sweep. But just as Kaede was airborne, a ninjato came flying towards her. She ducked her head and dodged the sword.

Yasuha wasn't finished and sent off Kaede's old sword and a katana at her from behind and in front. Kaede weaved in mid-air in between the two incoming blades. Once the blades passed, Kaede landed on the ground and looked for her own sword. But then, Kaede caught on to the pattern. Yasuha had made herself seen for only a split second, giving Kaede enough to work with.

Once Yasuha had finished her sortie, Kaede narrowed her eyes in concentration and noticed the girl reaching for one of the Kiba blades. But just as quickly as Kaede had found her, she disappeared as a flash with the Kiba at the helm. The Namikaze dodged and kicked for Yasuha but missed. Kaede quickly recalculated and ducked under a chest slash from the irate Okano. The flash ended for only a split second giving Kaede a good idea of what weapon the Okano was going for.

Kaede sighed slightly whens she realized that her blade was the next to be used. Yasuha flashed and grabbed the sword and flashed once more, but Kaede had it all planned out and channeled chakra in her palms. Once Yasuha closed the distance, Kaede forced her palm forward, shattering the blade, and scaring the Okano. The fear shot the girl back to normal speed and Kaede took full advantage of the situation.

The redhead grabbed the other by the shirt and threw her onto the ground. Kaede stomped on Yasuha's chest, crushing some of her ribs in the process. Kaede was about to drop an axe kick, but Yasuha rolled over on her side and sent a leg sweep, knocking Kaede onto her side. Kaede quickly shot off the ground and grabbed one of the swords still floating and pulled it from its formation. It had the markings of Kumogakure. Kaede shook her head and channeled chakra through it.

Yasuha dashed ahead with the Kiba blades sparking with lightning chakra. The three swords clashed, sending chakra and wind flying in all directions, blowing the floating swords from their formation and sending them throughout the battlefield. Kaede formed a shadow clone that grabbed Yasuha from behind and pulled her away from Kaede.

But the clone didn't last long as it was sliced in half. Yasuha charged for Kaede and aimed to behead the girl, but Kaede smirked and simply sidestepped the attack, completely ignoring the growing aggravation on Yasuha's face. The anger was just overflowing on the redhead. Kaede simply giggled and kicked the girl with a chakra enhanced kick, launching her back.

"I-It seems…t-that you've improved…Aka-hime…" Yasuha spat. "I'm surprised that Uzumaki half-bloods can learn this fast…"

"What the fuck would you know about being an Uzumaki?!" Kaede shouted.

"Do you really think I'm a full blooded Okano?" Yasuha asked with a laugh. "Do you really think I'm truly an Okano?!"

"…What are you trying to say?!" Kaede growled.

"I was adopted by Tetsui, baka." Yasuha smirked. "My real name is Uzumaki Yasuha. How's it going cousin?"

"W-What?!" Kaede's eyes were wide with confusion. "You're a lying whore!"

Kaede charged forward and smashed her blade against Yasuha's. Kaede growled heavily as her breath started increasing pace. It was borderline hyperventilation.

"Believe what you want Kaede-chan!" Yasuha teased.

"Don't call me that!" Kaede sliced for Yasuha's neck, but the redhead simply kicked Kaede in the gut, breaking her stance.

"Aw. Is little Kaede angry that she has to kill her family?" Yasuha spat. "Is the half-blood gonna cry?"

"You're such a crybaby…" Yasuha started walking away. "No wonder you're not that great…a half-blooded Uzumaki can get nowhere…"

"Get back here!" Kaede roared in anger as she stumbled to her feet. She charged for Yasuha, but the girl simple spun around with the same lightning fast speed and kicked Kaede in the chin, sending her to the ground.

"I don't think so princess…" Yasuha replied in a sing-song tone. "I have business to deal with the Yougan-hime…so wait your turn."

Kaede struggled to speak. She looked over to see Kurotsuchi struggling to deal with her opponents since Kaede charged off for Yasuha, leaving her to fight off the thirteen Uemura and Hatomi. The Uemura weren't a problem, but Hatomi was the boss of this fight. Kaede struggled to call out for the black haired girl. She pushed herself off the ground and crawled for the sword still embedded in the body of the dead Uemura.

Yasuha paid no attention to Kaede as she slowly trudged towards Kurotsuchi. She savored each step as Kurotsuchi took out another Uemura fodder shinobi. One by one they fell to the Yougan-hime's valiant defense. Kuro jumped to the side and dodged a jinton attack and sent one of her own to the sky to get rid of Hatomi.

Kaede tore the blade form the body and used the blade as a cane and limped all the way to Yasuha. But she knew that at her current speed, Kurotsuchi wouldn't make it. The redhead suddenly felt a large burst of energy shoot off from within. Kurama had finally woken up from his beauty nap and surged chakra into Kaede's chakra coils, giving her a super burst of power.

Kaede shot off for Yasuha's back and drug the black katana into Yasuha's back, shoving the blade through her chest. Blood shot from the green-eyed Uzumaki's eyes. Yasuha's eyes were wide with surprise at Kaede's audacity but smirked anyway as she collapsed onto the ground with Kaede standing over her dying body.

"YASUHA!" Hatomi's scream reverberated across the crater. "NO!"

"Kaede! They're pulling back!" Kurotsuchi gasped for air. She was exhausted. After a few minutes of watching them retreat into the forest around them, Kurotsuchi shot off a few lava globs forming another cottage that Kaede clones cooled off while the original tended to the wounded Yasuha. Once the cottage was nice and cooled down, Kaede and her clones brought the girl into cottage.

"Now then…Yasuha…" Kaede bent down to the dying Uzumaki. "Tell us what we want to know and I'll heal you…"

There was a long silence as Yasuha weighed the choices and sighed heavily as her heart panged. She knew that she was betraying Han, but she hoped that he would look past it and forgive her. She just wanted to live to spend more time with her fiancée.

"Fine…what do you want to know?" She asked.

"What is the Akatsuki?"

* * *

**So, sorry if this chapter was dialogue heavy, but it needed to happen sooner or later. It also gave insight to the Akatsuki and their plans.**

** Next chapter: Will Naruto finally wake up? What is Yasuha going to tell Kaede? On another note, Yasuha is an UZUMAKI?! What lies in store for Kurotsuchi and Kaede? What is Han going to do now that his fiancee is a prisoner? What will he do when he finds out that his own sister is aligning herself with the the Aka-hime? What is the true plan of the Akatsuki? What is Inoichi truly thinking? Find out next chapter!**

**Jutsu: Hachi Ken'no mai! Whoever got the refrence, you are awesome xD**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	7. The War of the Five Shadows

**Ok so there's going to be HEAVY, HEAVY, HEAVY reference to ASoIaF and Game of Thrones in here . **

**disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or a A Song of Ice and Fire. I do own a copy of each book though xD**

**Chapter 7: The War of the Five Shadows**

**The Road to Vengeance Arc**

**Part IV of VI**

**_Two weeks later…_**

A small pop was heard in the surprisingly empty room, save for the comatose prince in the hospital bed. The machines soft beeping made sure that people knew that he was still alive and breathing. But from that small pop, came another scroll, stacked on top of the other two. If one could reach over and open it, they would find that it's impossible. It was protected by a complex seal unknown to anyone but Kaede and Naruto.

_Nii-san,_

_ I miss you. Nii-san…it's been almost three months since the massacre…I want you to write back to me…to us. Kuro-nee is worried and constantly weeps in her sleep. She wants you to come to her Nii-san. I want to hear your laugh again…I want to hear your voice again. I miss you so much…we're twins damn it! We have that twin initiative that no one else has. _

_ Please…come to us as soon as possible._

_We need you._

_Love,_

_ Namikaze Uzumaki Kaede, aka, The Aka-hime no Konoha and Yamauchi Kurotsuchi, aka, The Yougan-hime no Iwa_

_-In Taki no Kuni…_

"So let me get this straight…" Kurotsuchi said while rubbing her temples. "The entire Akatsuki is after the crowns of both villages…correct me if I'm wrong…"

"Han and Inoichi have a tight connection network with each other…" Kaede said adding on to the statement.

"The Akatsuki meet near the desolate country and the mountains graveyard?" Kurotsuchi continued. "The Akatsuki of Iwa apparently has the Uemura clan, Kamizuru and the Okano clans?"

"And Konoha has the Hyuuga, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Nara, Inuzuka and Aburame?" Kaede said. "And they are just waiting for the right moment to strike…"

"T-That's pretty much it…" Yasuha sighed.

"Where the hell do you fit into all of this?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"I was going to be Han's wife…his queen…" Yasuha looked away from Kurotsuchi's gaze. "But now that I've been captured, I'm of no use to him…"

"Just…damn." Kurotsuchi sighed and walked away from the tied up Uzumaki. "You can handle her Kaede…"

"You got it Nee-chan…" Kaede said as Kurotsuchi left the cottage of dried lava.

They waited for quite some time before they began to talk again. Kaede sliced the ropes binding Yasuha and brought up an earth chair with earth chakra. The two stared at each other, examining each other waiting for the other to start the conversation.

"So what now?" Yasuha asked. "Are you going to torture me?"

"No." Kaede simply replied. "I'm just going to ask you questions."

"I already told you everything I know!" Yasuha growled.

"I'm not asking about what you know…" Kaede said softly. "I want to know how an Uzumaki stooped so low as to become one of the Akatsuki…"

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…_

Hatomi and the remnants of her attack force stopped after another day of running back to home base at her mansion. The mountains surrounded her from all sides and shrouded her from the light of the moon above. It's been two weeks since the botched mission to get rid of the Aka-hime. But whatever the reason of why she screwed up, she needed to get back to base and tell her father and Han about the new and tantalizing information that she had access to.

Yamauchi Kurotsuchi…is a traitor.

Hatomi only smiled at what happened. Her 'sister' was captured. She wasn't even her sister by blood, or by relation. Hatomi mentally gagged. Yasuha was an Uzumaki. A dirty blooded Uzumaki. She only played the good sister because she wanted to get on her father's good side. The longer Hatomi thought of it, she ended up hating and hating her adopted sister even more.

In truth, Hatomi wanted to have the speed that her sister had. Hatomi wanted the swords that Yasuha always collected. She even wanted Han to herself. The black haired Okano smirked at her luck. Not only was Yasuha out of the picture, she could get her hands on Han herself. Hatomi knew that Han would never take Yasuha back if she were to even get free of BOTH the Aka-hime and Yougan-hime.

Hatomi raised her fist to halt the remnants of her company. She looked back to her units and sighed at her misfortune. All she had left was a ragtag team of Uemura fodder. Meaning, they were just guardsmen for the actual clansmen. She looked over her troops and frowned to see that she was down to only five, and all of them were men. All of them were injured. Hatomi sighed deeply and ordered them to break for camp.

But after a few moments, they didn't comply. Hatomi looked at them weirdly and shrugged thinking they were just tired. She walked over to a corner and started pulling out her equipment, but just as she got her bedroll from her pack, they charged for her and tackled her against a tree, each one wielding kunai and daggers. They cut through her clothes and armor trying to get her clothes off of her.

For the longest time, these men had wanted to fuck the Okano and her sister, but once they heard that she was an Uzumaki, they felt disgusted and went for the next best thing, Hatomi. They didn't give a damn about what she could do to them. All they wanted to do was to get into her pants by any means necessary. Especially now that they felt that they were dying, they wanted to get some action with the only female for miles around.

But they also had orders. Why not go beyond the call of duty?

Hatomi screamed in surprise and began to kick and scream in fear, but quickly reined herself in and calmed down to assess the situation. As it was they were already tearing through her armor and armor latches. She struggled under the largest one's grip, but managed to get a good slip. She wiggled her arm out of the first ones grip and kicked him in the groin, hunching him over onto the rocky surface.

She jumped up to her feet and kneed one of the other guardsmen in the gut and elbowed him down to the ground. She spun around and drew out a kunai knife and lodged it into one of the other Uemura's throats. She spun around with a roundhouse kick, causing the breast plate for another Uemura to cave in. Two dead, three more to go. Hatomi sped through quick hand seals and began to float up into the sky.

**"Jinton: Hakuri no jutsu!"** Two of the three Uemura were encased in a three-dimensional sphere with a glowing center. But just as quickly as they were covered, they were vaporized by the amazing and powerful jutsu. She descended down to the surface with a scorn on her face. "What do you think you've done…?"

"W-We have orders!" The Uemura spat. "Now die Okano bitch!" The man charged forward with his ninjato drawn.

But. Hatomi quickly kicked his wrist, knocking the sword from his hands. The Okano jumped up and connected a heavy kick to his chest and sent him back a few feet. Hatomi sped forward with chakra pumping off of her legs increasing her speed. She smashed into the man, tackling him into the ground beneath them.

"Orders from whom?" She asked with no emotion in her voice. She waited a moment for an answer but she received none.

She straddled his chest and rammed her fist into his face. When he didn't reply she sent her other fist in for a ground and pound. As each strike hit, blood began to cover her knuckles until he finally relented the information she wanted.

"T-The…O-Okano's…are…traitors to Iwa…and the Akatsuki…" The guardsman moaned in pain. "Your father thinks…that Han-sama doesn't know…"

"Silence!" Hatomi punched the man in his throat, crushing his esophagus from the hit. Blood poured from his mouth and pooled around his head.

The girl stood up from his dead body and sighed. She looked around in paranoia. As of this moment, she finally understood why her father felt the way he always did. She was being watched. She just didn't know from where. She didn't know what factions were out for her demise. She was, for the first time in her life, afraid. The Yamauchi that she felt a great deal of admiration for was after her and her family's heads.

There were only three people that she knew could stop this: Two of them were her enemies and one was an Uzumaki.

In the distance though, she sensed a large force of infantry and shinobi moving towards her. She glared when she recognized many Uemura and Manabu clansmen. She turned on her heels and burst through the rocks and caverns back towards Taki no Kuni.

_-In Taki no Kuni…_

"So that's what happened…" Kaede was awestruck.

"It wasn't my choice." Yasuha spat. "Again. I was kidnaped as a baby by Tetsui…I always knew, but I just never said anything so I wouldn't raise suspicion."

"What about Hatomi? You two always seemed close…" Kaede asked.

"She hates me and I hate her." Yasuha replied. "We always had the act going even when we were alone; think of it as emotional training. She hated me because I was an Uzumaki…and I hated her because she was an Okano."

"Even though we never openly fought, we hated each other…so when she had learned Jinton, I was infuriated. I chose to increase my speed so I could impress someone of high birth; namely the Yamauchi." Yasuha continued. Kurotsuchi entered into the cottage with a large jug of water from a nearby fresh water spring. "Do you want to know the secret to my speed?"

"Yes…tell us." Kaede growled.

"Here." Yasuha rolled up the sleeves to her arms and channeled chakra revealing a massive array of intricate seals and seal matrices. Each one intersecting and combining with one another and mixing to form a new seal. It was amazing to the Namikaze. Kaede continued to stare and examine the seals covering the girl's arms and now, legs.

"What are these seals…?" Kaede asked bewildered.

"They are reverse gravity seals." Yasuha simply replied. "As you know; gravity seals slow and weigh you down, but reverse gravity seals make you lighter, thus allowing you to run faster, jump higher and hit quicker, but for the cost of strength."

"What are these extra seals?" Kaede asked.

"They are the seals used to negate the weakening affects." Yasuha said.

"I see…tell me how to do these seals." Kaede said. "We'll let you go anyway. We got all the information we wanted."

"R-Really?" Yasuha was surprised.

"We aren't dumb Yasuha." Kurotsuchi said as she leaned against the wall of the cottage. "We know that no amount of torture will extract the information we want from you. Now then, hurry up and get those seals taught. We need to get out and do some recon and kidnapping. We know that you most likely don't know where Han is right now."

"H-How'd you know?" Yasuha asked with wide eyes.

"With a man as paranoid as Tetsui, there's no doubt that some of it would have rubbed off on Han. Especially in his current state of mind." Kurotsuchi stated wisely. "Kokuō is screwing with my brothers head again most likely."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

**_Breaking News: Kumogakure's military is exploding out of proportion!_**

**_ -Kumogakure is gearing for war! No one knows the true reasons as of yet, but the armies of Cloud and Kaminari no Kuni are amassing on the border between Hi no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni! _**

**_Breaking News: Tension is rising between Konohagakure and Iwagakure!_**

**_-Ever since the Uchiha/Senju massacre in mid-summer of this year, Iwa and Konoha have been gearing for an all-out war with one another! _**

**_Breaking News: Kirigakure and the Unabara Clan claims direct lineage to the Rikudō Sennin of legend!_**

**_-As everyone knows, to become the Supreme Kage of the elemental nations, one had to be of direct descent to the Rikudō Sennin! The Unabara Clan, now since the annihilation of the Senju, now claims to be the ones to be in command of the Mainland!_**

**_Breaking News: Kumogakure claims true lineal descent!_**

**_-Kumogakure has now declared their Ruling Dynasty of Soga clansmen are the descendants of the Rikudō! Who will stand in the way of Kumo and Kiri? _**

_-Shikuchi-jo…Konoha fortress…twenty miles from the border of Tsuchi no Kuni…_

"Lord Commander." A voice called out to the jounin commander in charge. "A message from the Hokage."

"Leave it on the desk." The man replied.

Once the chunin headed out of the door, the jounin turned around and held up the letter and smiled as he trailed his eyes over the contents of the message. They were orders straight from the Hokage to get his forces ready to invade Tsuchi no Kuni with full force of Hyuuga at the vanguard and Land of Fire samurai right behind the Hyuuga. Behind the samurai was going to be the brunt of the force; the Sarutobi.

The man was a tall and bearded shinobi with chocolate brown eyes and a cigarette in between his lips. Around his waist was a small banner that held the crest of the land of fire. His name is Sarutobi Asuma. Next in line to become the clan head of the Sarutobi clan. He even had a son coming along from his wife Sarutobi Kurenai. He was tough and had a sword on his back and two knuckle-blades strapped to his waist. One on each side.

Looking back at the letter; it was a detailed strategy planned out from the beginning of the war operation all the way to the endgame of a very promising ending. The total destruction of Iwagakure for their treachery against Konoha. The jounin began to laugh at his luck but suddenly felt a great force of foreboding in the pit of his heart. Something isn't right. A loud explosion shook the keep down to its foundation. Loud shouts and cries were heard throughout the courtyard.

Clanging weapons rang into the air. Flying kunai and explosions were all he could hear. Asuma looked calm and collected as he examined the situation as easily as possible. Suddenly a few footsteps could be heard as a struggle was made just outside of his office at the top floor of the keep. Asuma shook slightly but managed to gather his bearings before he collided with his desk.

"Lord Commander!" The same chunin from before, barged into the room. The jounin drew out his sword and nearly killed the man for scaring him. But then he took a moment to take in his appearance. A thick trail of blood was pouring from his mouth. The chunin fell dead to the ground with ten kunai embedded to the handle in his back. Asuma's eyes went wide at the sight. He suddenly sensed a few more chakra signatures that were unknown to him and sped through a few hand seals. Once the unknown signatures came into view, Asuma let loose.

**"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!"** He shot out a blast of fire through the doorframe, enticing a series of screams and howls. Once the fire died down, it came to reveal five corpses, burnt to ash.

The jounin commander charged through the door and looked down into the courtyard of his fortress and frowned at what he saw. His troops, shinobi and samurai were battling against an, as of yet, unknown enemy. He jumped over the railing of his keep and landed in the courtyard and engaged a few of the sword wielding enemies.

After a quick slash across one of their throats, he came to realize something wasn't right. The hitai-ate of the shinobi and samurai weren't two rocks, nor were they of four water marks. No, they were of clouds. Kumogakure had just attacked Konoha.

The jounin wasted no time and kicked the dying shinobi away from him and back flipped to get some distance from himself and some of the Lightning Samurai. One charged at him with his armor clanking and jangling about, but his armor didn't save him. With a fast chakra enhanced slash, the blade sliced clean through the chest of the samurai.

**"Katon: Haisekishō!" **Asuma spit forth a large cloud of ash that all Konoha and fire samurai knew of. All of his forces quickly backed out of their fights and fought their way behind the Sarutobi. Once the invading Kumo force became aware, they charged for the Sarutobi. Asuma only smirked. Once his troops were behind him, he clicked his teeth causing the ash cloud to suddenly combust in an amazing and fiery light causing the Kumo force to be drastically reduced to wailing, bleeding, husks of what used to be a man.

With much of the invasionary force defeated, the Konoha defense retaliated and cut down the remaining Kumo forces minus a few prisoners. Three genin, two chunin and one jounin commander. All six of them were badly injured and were missing at least one of their limbs. They were dragged through the corpse covered courtyard and thrown into dark and dank cells. Filth surrounded the prisoners of the attack.

"Now then." Asuma said as he pulled up a seat. "tell me. Why did you attack my nation? We have no issues with Kumo or Kaminari no Kuni?"

"The Raikage demands a war. He wants to become the supreme ruler of the Shinobi nations! Kumo is the strongest of all the nations!" the shinobi shouted. "Our samurai move like the clouds that cover our village. Our shinobi strike like the lightning that they have been blessed to control. Our prince and princesses move like bees and swiftly like cats! Konoha can do nothing against the revolution to come!"

"Interesting spiel." Asuma mumbled as he lit a cigarette. After taking a deep drag he placed the cig in between his index and middle finger. "Tell me more and I might just let you die a painless death."

_-In the Great Eastern Sea…two weeks later…January_

Across the great crystal horizon, the sun was rising to cleanse the darkness from the land. The ocean breeze was soft and calming. Dolphins dashed through the waves and even made a few jumps from the ocean and into the calm and cool winter air. With a quick splash down into the water, the dolphins sped and raced through the cold and endless blue. But there was something else going on. It wasn't just any calm day, nor was it any ordinary day.

**"Suiton: Mizu Bakuhatsu!"** The jutsu was called out, changing the course of the ocean and forming two large water cannons, two hundred feet in diameter. They spun around at quick speeds before shooting off towards each other, colliding with amazing power and strength, shaking the tides and forming massive waves.

The two men were of different villages. One had a hitai-ate with the symbol of Uzushiogakure while the other had the symbol of the Kirigakure. They were both jinchuriki for their villages, thus being a part of the royal family of their kingdoms.

The prince that hailed from Uzushiogakure was a tough young man no older than twenty. He had deep violet eyes like most had in his clan. He wore the traditional black body armor of his clan during the warring states period. At his sides were two katana's, one on each hip. His sleeves were long and a deep red. His skin was a light tan and had spiky but long, blood-red hair. His name is Uzumaki Seiji, youngest son of Uzumaki Noburo, and youngest sibling to Uzumaki Kushina. He is the jinchuriki to the seven finned Dolphin-shark.

Across the ocean stood a young man with pink-ish eyes and a long pole-arm. It was the weapon of his clan that made his name famous. His father, Unabara Yagura, is the current Mizukage. The boy had grey spiky hair much like his father and stood at a good height of 5'8", which was pretty tall for his clan. He wore a green scarf over his family's traditional battle armor. His name is Unabara Shunji. He is the jinchuriki of the six-tailed tortoise-dog.

As it was, the two princes were battling it out for control of the trade routes that came through the Great Eastern Sea. For Uzushio to gain control, meant that Konoha could stand a chance, but if Kiri won, they would be able to hold an extremely important and profitable trade route. The Uzumaki had to hold their ground for the time being. They couldn't let the remaining Senju brothers they have die off.

"Seiji!" Shunji shouted out to the Uzumaki. "You've gotten better."

"I should say the same to you, Unabara." The Uzumaki laughed. "You will never gain control of this seaway!"

"It doesn't matter if we get control of the seaway." Shunji said as he shot off a huge blast of water into the sky.

Seiji was confused for a moment, but then the large compressed ball of water exploded a few hundred feet in the air, raining water down on to them. Seiji didn't know what it was for, but he didn't like it. Channeling the dolphin-sharks chakra, the boy began to shoot off hordes of chakra, causing some of the water around him to evaporate.

But before he could do anything, a large ball of explosive tags was flying straight for him. Taking evasive actions he jumped over to the side as the ball dug through the ocean surface and into the ocean itself. Once the prince of Uzushio got his footing back on the volatile surface of the ocean, the water began to glow an ominous color as it exploded outwards, sending the Uzumaki flying.

**"Suiton: Dai Suijinheki!" **He slammed his hands through the water, shooting up a massive tidal wave, nearly seven hundred feet high and two hundred feet thick to defend against another ball of explosive tags. The tidal wave sped forward and crashed against Shunji.

**"It's not over boy!"** The deep voice echoed throughout the ocean and vibrated the sea. The tidal wave crashed against Shunji in his full bijuu form. The water simply parted at the size of majestic bijuu. It was nearly half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide. Six tails swishing behind in the rising sun's glow. The great turtle-dog had made itself known, but that wasn't all.

Behind the great bijuu was a massive armada of ships bearing the banner of Kiri and Mizu no Kuni. Seiji looked in awe of the sight and quickly channeled his own bijuu's chakra. After a few moments, his body had transformed into a massive seven-finned dolphin shark with teeth the size of two story buildings. It was a predator of monstrous and nightmarish size. Seiji dipped his head into the water and sent out a mass sonar message to Uzushio about the incoming fleet of Mizu no Kuni ships.

"It's the Fourth Great Shinobi World War…"

_-In Kaze no Kuni…two weeks later…_

Along the border between Kaze no Kuni and Tsuchi no Kuni was a division of three thousand shinobi and samurai amassed to aid Konoha in the war that seemed to be raging all across the continent. So far, for the past four weeks, Konoha had been engaging both Iwa and Kumo with Uzushio holding off Kiri in the Far East. As it was, there was no clear winner as the two sides had stalemated each other. Kaze no Kuni was surprised that Iwa and Kumo weren't getting stomped about by the Kogane no ōji and the Aka-hime or the Kiiroi Senko, but then they quickly realized that the Aka-hime hadn't been home for almost four months and the Senko was traumatized by the massacre and the Ōji hadn't awoken from his coma.

Konoha had lost a third of the battles fought against Kumo and Iwa, but Konoha was making it happen as victory was coming. After the first week of the war, it became Konoha's battle cry: Victory is coming. And there were some even saying, 'Konoha Remembers' to pay homage to the Uchiha/Senju massacre that happened on July 23, also commonly known as the Bloody Sunday.

But as the war dragged on into its fifth week, the Kazekage knew that he couldn't stand by any longer. Iwa was getting dangerously close to his lands and was started to puncture through Konoha and the Fire Daimyo's defensive lines all throughout the smaller nations and their own lands. So as it was, The Kazekage had sent his son, the Jinchuriki of one of the nine pieces of the Juubi, to lead a division up north to the border and get ready for an assault.

"Gaara-sama." A jounin said to the young redheaded jinchuriki.

Sabaku no Gaara. Son of the Yondaime Kazekage and jinchuriki of the great Ichibi no Shukaku. He stood at a good height of 5'10" and still had a more to go. The boy had messy red hair and no eyebrows. His eyes were a light teal and held little to no emotion. His arms were crossed and he was standing on a cloud of floating sand. The two most defining features of the boy was the tattoo for love on his left forehead and the massive sand gourd on his back.

"What is it?" The prince looked down from his cloud and to the jounin.

"A message from the Hokage and the Kazekage." The jounin said. "It is of urgent importance that you read it."

"Hand it to me." The jounin hurled the scroll up to the boy and the redhead's sand reached out and grabbed the scroll from mid-air.

"What does it say my lord?" One of the other jounin asked.

"Get ready for an attack into Tsuchi no Kuni." Gaara said with an emotionless tone in his voice. "We will be attacking a city by the name of Ishikawa. Our job is to raze it to the ground. Kill everyone we come across, man, woman or child."

"Understandable from your father, but the Yondaime Hokage too?" Some of the Jounin were surprised at the orders.

"I understand the Hokage's choice in action. This war not only is a war to keep our alliance on top, but it is also a war to avenge the fallen Uchiha and Senju clans for the treachery that conspired five months ago." Gaara quietly stated. "We will also be meeting up with the Kogane Kishi, which is being led by Uchiha Sasuke, the only surviving Uchiha of the massacre."

"Are only the Kishi coming to aide us?" The jounin asked.

"It says that they are moving through Tsuchi no Kuni as of right now with an entire battle division of hardened and skilled shinobi and samurai at their backs." Gaara replied as he sent the signal to break camp.

"It's about time Suna got into this war!"

_-Taki no Kuni…_

"Kaede-chan." Kurotsuchi said quietly. "It seems that the war has only escalated."

"Any news?" Kaede asked.

"The First Kiri Armada was defeated by Seiji and the Third Uzushio Fleet yesterday; The Kogane Kishi has been tearing through Tsuchi no Kuni; Danzo's ROOT aided by countless Sarutobi shinobi are battling it out with Kumogakure and keeping them in the East for the time being." Kurotsuchi said. "That's only the beginning. I haven't even gotten to what they're calling the war-"

"I feel someone coming!" Yasuha suddenly said. "It's…Hatomi?!"

"Yasuha! Aka-hime! Yougan-hime! Come out! I come in peace!" The girl's voice sounded exhausted and strained. All heads turned and looked out of the cottage to see a beat up and dirty faced Hatomi.

She looked like she just fought through an entire war just to find the girls. Given their current state as a continent, she quickly realized that Hatomi probably did fight through the entire war. The three girls headed out of the little hut and drew their weapons at the girl. Each one eyed the Okano as carefully as possible. But Hatomi simply dropped to her knees and bowed deeply.

"What do you want Hatomi?" Yasuha asked with a small growl.

"It's imperative that we go back to the mansion Yasuha." Hatomi said. "Han is going to betray the Okano's! Already he had Uemura try to kill me on my way back to the hideout."

Yasuha was surprised. She looked over to Kurotsuchi but the black haired girl was just as surprised. It was as if Han knew that they were going to fail in their mission. It was as if he wanted them to fail. But then it hit her. Kurotsuchi looked to Yasuha and Hatomi with wide eyes.

"You and your clan have been labeled as loose ends then!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed. "Han is eliminating political enemies for whatever endgame plan he has set. We have to go."

"We?" Kaede asked with a raised eyebrow. "If you don't remember, they tried to _kill_ us!"

"I know you might have forgotten, but I am still the heiress to Iwagakure." Kurotsuchi quickly replied. "It is my duty as their princess to aid in the removal of my brother's terrorist activities."

"…I guess I have no choice then?" Kaede sighed as she strapped on her armor. The Okano and Uzumaki were surprised at Kaede's willingness to help. Kurotsuchi simply gave them a small smile and went off to get her own swords and weapons.

"So. Kaede. Here's the name of the game." Kurotsuchi said as she finished wrapping her sword around her waist. "When we go off into the Okano mansion, we will need to be quick and precise. If we succeed in defending the Okano's, then we'll have the Okano clan on our side for later use. The Okano's are deep in the Akatsuki, founding members actually, so we will need them on our side if we will want to get at Han."

"Understood. Let's go. We don't want to be caught in any battles along the way to the Mansion."

_-Konohagakure no Sato…_

"The war of the four shadows is escalating!" A herald was shouting out to the people passing by. "Already Konoha and the Grand Triumvirate of Suna, Konoha and Uzushio, have been able to strike a deadly blow against the forces of Kirigakure no Sato and Kumogakure no Sato!"

People cheered slightly as they listened while others simply walked off to the market. Soldiers were constantly patrolling the village at war and made sure no one stepped out of line. Many more civilians left their daily work and walked up to the herald to listen in on the news coming in from the front.

"As it is, Konoha and Iwa are in a dead-lock of a stalemate!" The man shouted from his pedestal. "The Kogane no ōji, sadly, is still in a coma, leaving his father to fight the war and the Aka-hime is nowhere to be found! If the Kogane no ōji doesn't awake soon, the war could very well tip in Iwagakure's favor!"

People groaned, some cried out to Kami in the heavens for their prince to awaken from his slumber and for their princess to come home. Others were horrified of the prospect of losing the war to the brutish people of Iwa and Tsuchi no Kuni.

"Sunagakure is moving in from the south to aid the Kogane Kishi in their assault through Ame no Kuni and into Tsuchi no Kuni! Iwa is now fighting on two fronts!" The herald cried out as he continued to read the message in his hands. Just as he was about to continue reading his current letter of information, a hawk swooped down and perched itself on his shoulder and dropped a scroll from its mouth and into the heralds hands. "Unbelievable…A new enemy has arisen from the west! He claims himself to be the true leader of the Elemental Nations! He calls himself the Otokage of Otogakure!"

The people were in uproar at the information. First Iwa assaults Konoha. Then Kumo and their Raikage claim the title of supreme Kage and leader of the elemental nations. Soon followed by Kiri and their Mizukage claiming the exact same thing. The military police soon came into the scene to calm the people down. At the head of the police force was Orochimaru with his former teammates Jiraiya and Tsunade. With their presence, they were able to calm the crowd.

"This Otokage is going to be dealt with." Tsunade said with a powerful voice, bringing out her former kage tone. "Just keep calm and return to your jobs. The war will be won."

_-In Kaze no Kuni…three weeks later…_

"Heheh." A man giggled maniacally. "It seems the six Kage's are falling right into my trap."

The man had a large hood draped over his head. He had silvery white hair and wore round rimmed glasses. He walked calmly with two large shinobi at his sides. Both were dressed in powerful looking body armor and had kanabo strapped to their backs. On their foreheads were hitai-ate bearing an eighth-note symbol.

The desert sands were blowing around the three as they trudged through the dunes that waved endlessly through the desert. But once the sand parted and the winds were calm, it came to reveal a massive army marching behind the hooded man and his two giant cohorts. Thousands upon thousands of shinobi and infantry were marching towards Sunagakure as their first target.

As they marched through the country, they left a path of destruction and death and fire in their wake. As they continued, they claimed every city they came across and every bit of land before they even made it half-way to Sunagakure. As it was, he had anticipated the explosion of conflict quite perfectly. With the death of the Senju and Uchiha clans, Kumo's clans and the noble families claimed true descent from the Rikudō Sennin. Since only those of the blood of the sage could be true rulers of the Elemental nations. Shortly after Kumo's Raikage and his clan declared their lineage, they sent forth their armies to rid the world of the only competition they had: the last six Senju in the world; Namikaze Minato, Namikaze Mito, Namikaze Arashi, Namikaze Naruto, Namikaze Kaede and Namikaze-Senju Tsunade. But with the recent reports of the Aka-hime, Namikaze Kaede, being gone from the village and the Kogane no ōji, Namikaze Naruto, being in a coma for the past five months, made the Raikage think of his situation with a new light.

After the massacre first happened, he was sketchy at best about how he was going to go about his assault on Konoha and the Senju/Uchiha lineage. But once the Aka-hime basically disappeared from the radar and the Kogane no ōji was injured, he knew it was his time to strike. So he took his forces and amassed them against the border in complete secrecy and moved them subtly throughout the entire northern border of Hi no Kuni and when the time was right, at the beginning of the new year, he surged his forces over the border and attacked Konoha's fortresses stationed throughout the Northern provinces of the Land of Fire. But within two weeks, Kumo's forces were pushed back by a massive counter offensive devised by Shikaku and a battle strategy council made up of nothing but Nara clansmen.

Looking over to the Far East in the vast oceans, the Unabara clan claimed their lineal descent from the Rikudō Sennin as retaliation to Kumo and their own declaration. The clan of extremely powerful water ninjutsu users were supported by the populace of Mizu no Kuni. Even the water daimyo gave the Unabara clan full support and even scrounged the history books and family trees and clan records from the ancient times and had even found proof of the Unabara clan's claim of the title of Supreme ruler of the Elemental Nations. All for the small price of gaining control of Uzu no Kuni and having himself a harem of Uzumaki women.

But so far, the Uzumaki were holding their own against the bastards across the sea. The Unabara were surprised by the Uzumaki's fighting ability and naval capabilities, seeing as how the Unabara were the creators and leaders of the Village Hidden in the Mist; which happened to be the shinobi kingdom within the Land of _Water_. The Kiri navy was up until the war, the most unstoppable military force known to man, woman or child. But somehow, the Uzumaki were able to destroy not just a fleet, but an entire armada of warships. Thousands of men and women, samurai and shinobi, died after two weeks of constant fighting at sea. As it was, Kiri and Uzushio were at a bloody stalemate with neither side gaining nor losing territory.

But out of all of the claimants to the name of Supreme Kage, and direct lineal descent from the Rikudō, the Senju still had the highest claim and the most plausible. They along with the Uchiha were the longest clans in existence. With millions of years of history and expansion, they were the most important clan in the entire world as of yet. The thing that made the other nations want control was the fact that the Senju weren't taking advantage of their blood right as Supreme rulers. They weren't conniving for power or trying to subdue their enemies into giving them what they want, no, the Senju were too noble for their own good. And it angered many people, both foreign and domestic.

But the Senju weren't the only ones with high claims as well. The Yamauchi of Iwagakure was also of the same level. While the Senju were revered and boasted descent from the Rikudō on Hi no Kuni, the Yamauchi were the same in Tsuchi no Kuni. Having millenniums worth of history and records to their name, the Yamauchi have a solid claim to the title. Yamauchi Kitsuchi was going to make sure that he was able to get the title. He needed the title of Supreme Kage. His clan was finally at the precipice of the World Stage, and the right to go down in history as the first man to unite the elemental nations under one flag.

Shaking his head from his thoughts, the Otokage smirked wildly at the state of affairs of the continent under fire. He continued to walk through the burning village he had just entered and drew out a chokutō ninjato. A village guard charged for him, but, the man simply swung his arm around, slashing the throat out from the guards, causing him to plop onto the sticky, bloody sand below.

"I am Yakushi Kabuto. And I will be the one to claim the Crown of Supreme Kage."

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…two weeks later…February…_

For almost five weeks, the girls were charging through the mountainous valleys of the Land of Earth. The deeper they got into the country though, the harder it was for Kaede to not feel anxious. Even though she and Kurotsuchi had been in the country countless amounts of times for information gathering and kidnapping, she still couldn't help but feel a little worried that they might be caught. I mean, don't they remember that a massive five-way war was being fought?

Kaede shook those thoughts from her head and ran fast to catch up to Kurotsuchi and the two Okano's. No one really said much. The tension though was there. Everyone present has tried to kill one another within the last five months at least twice. At the beginning of the journey the trip was slightly awkward with the four beginning to bond, but now, all of their previous feelings for each other were gone and they now felt friendship blooming with one another.

But now, they were nearing their destination, the Okano Mansion.

"Alright. Everyone stay behind me and let me explain things to my father so he doesn't attack you two." Hatomi said to Kurotsuchi and Kaede.

"Just stay quiet and be respectful." Yasuha said as they came towards the main road to the Mansion.

But once they turned and headed onto the paved pathway towards the front gate of the Mansion, the road was littered with mutilated animals and people. The area reeked of burning flesh and wood. The four girls drew their weapons and got their jutsu ready. They sprang into the diamond formation and quickly sped for the front gate only to find the doors destroyed revealing a ruined courtyard with a few fights still going on in the center.

The two Okano's charged ahead and engaged a few unknown enemies and hacked them down leaving the rest to Kaede and Kurotsuchi whom of which, finished off their opponents in less than a second each. The two girls then followed the Okano sisters while the rest of the Okano defense forces fought back against the invaders.

"We need to see if my father is still alive!" Hatomi called out to the three girls as they barged into the main house.

Once inside they could hear the sounds of struggling and blood splashing and knives clanging against each other. Shouts echoed throughout the main floor as their voices and cries of pain rung about. The four girls slowly trudged to the top of the stairs with their blades held out for quick parries. An explosion shook the household, but the four girls were able to keep steady.

"I think we should split up and handle whoever comes in our way y'know." Kaede said. "I think we will find Tetsui faster if we get rid of the resistance beforehand."

"As much as I would like that idea, you're forgetting, the entire Okano clan is fighting to kill you. And these invaders are most likely going to go after you as well Aka-hime." Hatomi said. "It's best if we stick together."

"I agree." Kurotsuchi and Yasuha replied. Kaede merely sighed and nodded knowing she was outvoted.

_Ten Minutes later…_

The four girls found the main throne room and barged through the doorway to find Tetsui and a large force of defenders standing about with different injuries marring their bodies and faces. Tetsui was missing an arm which really hit home to Hatomi. But the head Okano didn't seem to care.

"What are you thinking, bringing the Aka-hime and the Yougan-hime here?!" The man seethed. "The Aka-hime is Senju-scum and the Yougan-hime is a traitorous bitch!"

"You will not speak of them that way-" Yasuha tried to defend the two girls, but was suddenly backhanded by Tetsui's good hand.

"I will speak as I please!" He spat. "They were probably here to fucking kill me right now! That's probably the only reason they followed you!"

"Believe what you want asshole." Kaede growled, letting her emotions get the best of her. "But Kurotsuchi and I have come to the consensus of letting you live as long as you give us Yamauchi Han!"

"…" There was a deep silence that claimed the room, until Tetsui began to laugh. "I see the Aka-hime is still on her Road to Revenge."

"It's a road we all must travel for our journey to be complete." Kaede simply replied back.

"And what destination are you trying to achieve?" Tetsui asked.

"The destination is undefined, for it is the journey that matters." Kaede answered.

"Hmm…" Tetsui scratched his chin with his good hand and looked the redheaded Senju square in the eye. "If you are willing to take the risk of the double-edged sword that vengeance is, then…if you can defeat the Uemura and the Manabu…then…the Okano will have your back in taking down Han."

"It's a promise then." Kaede shut her eyes as she began to channel the power of Yin Kurama. "Let's do this!"

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…three weeks later…_

The darkness of the sky was only combated by the flickering flame of the different candles decorating the elaborate room of the mountainous fortress. Sitting in the dim light in the farthest corner was a large man in blood red armor with his Iwa hitai-ate scratched out through the center. He was glaring at the table in front of him. Not once did he anticipate the events to happen like the way they have. Not once did he take into consideration of Kumo and Kiri, for he believed they were under him.

It frustrated him to no end. The war wasn't supposed to be of this level. The war was supposed to be short, concise, precise and most of all, secret. Lives weren't supposed to be thrown away like they have been for the past two months of this war. From his agents' reports from the fronts, the daily death toll is well within the thousands. He knew that if it continued, there wouldn't be any elemental nations to control. But that blasted Yamanaka Inoichi.

Why Inoichi pushed forward the plans by almost two years, Han would never know. He himself spent countless hours coming up with a schedule and time table for when certain events were supposed to happen. But with this 'War of the Five Shadow's' as it was being called, his plans were trashed and worthless, since almost all of his main targets were in the field of battle fighting or defending for their nations interests.

Han sighed and leaned into his chair also knowing about his sister dearest joining up with the Aka-hime. The former Yamauchi knew all about the little path of revenge and simply laughed at the notion. Even if the Aka-hime could exact revenge on Han, he knew that his plans would have already been fulfilled and completed. He was confident in his own organizations reliability at the time, but now, as members were being killed off one by one or even ten by ten and found mutilated by some street corner or hanging off of some monument, Han began to worry for his organization and its life.

He still had high plans and other pieces to fall into place for him to bring for the endgame. But with the Okano's falling from the Akatsuki's graces with Tetsui's revolt a few weeks back, Han felt betrayed by his own organization. So he had the Uemura and Manabu to handle the Okano's only to have them defeated by the Aka-hime and sister dearest themselves. But what really hurt the most was that it was Yasuha that led them there.

He had loved the redhead even if she was an Uzumaki by true birth. Han didn't care about that, but what really hurt him the most was that she doubted his love for her and she even doubted his organization. She betrayed him and was now after his head for what he has done to her clan. With Tetsui first revolting for his own personal goals to be accomplished, and then Yasuha betraying his emotions, Han felt that there was no other alternative but to bring for the endgame stage three years ahead of schedule.

He knows it's going to be a premature strategy and quite frankly, a very bad strategic choice of action, but he felt that he had nothing to lose. The moment he murdered the Red Death, he lost all of his inheritance as the Jōki no ōji. He became Han, leader of the Akatsuki no Tsuchi. He became everything he ever dreamed of, but now, he has nothing. His own friends and comrades that gave their oaths and swore fealty to him betrayed him without a second thought. His own sister was after his head.

So. So what if he attacks and loses in the fight. He didn't care. He just wanted the traitors blood spilt. He wanted to dance on their rotting corpses. He wanted their heads on pikes. He wanted them dead. And as the leader of the Akatsuki, what he wants is what he gets. First order of business though…what to do with Yasuha.

"My Lord." A Manabu jounin entered the room and bowed to his leader. "We have a prisoner."

"Bring the prisoner here."

"Yes my lord." The jounin opened the door and a woman with blood red hair was thrown onto the floor in front of the large man.

Her skin was bruised and cut in various places. Her clothes were torn and disheveled and her red hair dull with almost no life. Her skin was dirty and bloody and she was almost naked, if it weren't for the rags that were given to her as clothing. Around her wrists and ankles were shackles made of chakra absorbent metal. The woman looked like a mess. She looked up to stare into Han's dull pink eyes. Within seconds, tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

Han reached down and picked her up and threw her into the wall across the room with a deep snarl marring his face. His eyebrows were furrowed deeply as a deep, guttural growl escaped his lips. His pink eyes exploding with unbridled fury. His hand gripped the prisoner's throat as tightly as possible to inflict the most amount of pain while keeping the prisoner conscious.

"Yasuha…"

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**I know that this chapter is sadly shorter than the other chapters of this Arc, but I've hit writers block somewhat :/ and school is being a bitch to me, even though it's only the fourth-fifth week of school xO**

**Next Chapter: Yasuha was captured? How? What's the deal with the Okano's? What is the Akatsuki's next move now that a massive war is taking residence? Yakushi Kabuto? Otokage? Otogakure? How long will this war last? What will become of Yasuha? What will become of Kaede? Will Kaede ever exact her revenge? When the hell will Naruto wake up?! Find out next chapter!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	8. Desperation

**Here is the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I hate having to do this, but I have no choice D: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Desperation**

**The Road to Vengeance Arc**

**Part V of VI**

"Yasuha…" Han growled at the woman.

"H-Han…" the girl cried. "Please…don't kill me…"

"Fuck you!" Han shouted and threw the girl across the room and into his chair.

The metal arms, smashed into her spin, eliciting a high pitched scream. Yasuha screamed in pain, but before she could voice her displeasure, Han picked her up by the throat and smashed her onto the table in the center of the room. Yasuha cried out as she tried her hardest to calm the raging jinchuriki. She wrapped her hand around his massive forearm, but Han simply punched her chest, forcing a huge blast of blood from her throat. Han glared at the woman with fury burning in his eyes, but not only was there a powerful inferno, but there was also a raging sea of tears, churning about in the corners of his dull-pink eyes.

"P-Please…" Yasuha pleaded.

**_Two weeks prior…_**

"Yasuha. You and Kaede charge from the southern wall while Kurotsuchi and I take to the air and attack the Uemura coming in from the eastern wall!" Hatomi quickly ordered. "Forget all of your allegiances to Han. He is no longer the man we once knew. Now then, go!"

"Let's take 'em!" Kaede shouted with a powerful smirk spread across her face as three clones popped into existence behind and next to Kaede. The three clones pulled out a scroll, each one filled to the brim with hiraishin kunai. Yasuha quickly recognized the technique that Kaede was trying to pull and smiled softly at the girl's powers. In a split second, thousands of Hiraishin kunai were shot off through the air and out from the scrolls and into the charging Uemura force making its way to the Okano mansion.

As it currently was, the entire mansion was low on defenses since for the past week straight, the Uemura and Manabu have been bombarding and assaulting the Okano clan's estate with everything they have. It also surprised the defenders of the mansion at the size that each attack was. They quickly concluded that because of the war going on, the entire Akatsuki force was able to slip through the country almost undetected. This war also seemed to be making the defense easier for the Okano's and the princesses present.

Once the kunai were launched and embedded in their targets, Kaede and Yasuha flashed out of existence. Kaede because of the hiraishin and Yasuha because of her reverse seals. The two girls dashed through the mosh pit of men and women, samurai and ashigaru, shinobi and kunoichi, and began to tear, rip, slash and hack their way through the thousands of opponents by themselves. As they sped through the area, all that was seen was a flash of red before ten; twenty or even thirty Uemura and Manabu were dead. From the sky above the fight with Hatomi and Kurotsuchi, both girls were awestruck at what the two girls below could do.

Kaede spun in a split millisecond, and dug her kunai into an Akatsuki footman and sliced her blade through his neck like a warm knife to butter, before flashing away and ending another shinobi the same way, continuing the same process before the second is over. She couldn't help but feel the amazement at the speed she was feeling, the vertigo that came with using the hiraishin and its speed as a weapon. Once again she flashed away and dug her kunai into another shinobi before hurling it at another shinobi and drawing out her black bladed sword before flashing once more.

On the other side of the fight, Yasuha had just finished dispatching her two-hundredth opponent and was catching up to Kaede's speed and kill count. The redhead had left her sword in the body of one of her enemies and chose to combat her opponents in hand to hand combat and smirked when some of them even thought of challenging her. One got too close and she sent her elbow out and broke the shinobi's nose and sent him stumbling before she kicked him in the chest, knocking him back. She punched a kunoichi that got too close as well, and reached into her kunai pouch and pulled out an explosive tag and slapped it onto her back and kicked the Uemura towards the rest of her force. Yasuha quickly sped away, knocking out and killing more enemies that got in her way, just before the explosive tag went off, killing everyone in a one hundred foot radius.

Kaede jumped up and lodged her sword into the forehead of a samurai, digging her blade through the woman's skull and out the other side. Once the two collapsed onto the ground, she tore the blade from the corpse and slashed about, cutting through Uemura sickle-swords and slicing through their arms and torso's. She diced a few of her enemies before she let them hit the ground. A samurai brute came charging through the line with a seal enhanced kanabo and swung at Kaede. The redheaded Namikaze simply hiraishined away and reappeared behind the man only to see an intricate seal formula that seemed to have a job of keeping the armor impenetrable to arrows, swords and ninjutsu.

So the only way to apparently defeat the brute was to take the head off of his body. Kaede jumped for the man, but he bashed her gut with the butt of the kanabo handle and sent her back into a flurry of male Uemura. She narrowed her eyes at the men and started cutting them down one by one with no remorse or hesitation. One Uemura raised his hand, and she cut off the hand before she bisected the shinobi. She kicked the top half off of the rest of the body, spraying blood and his innards onto the once brown and rocky ground below.

Once the Uemura surrounding the Namikaze were disposed of, Kaede concentrated on the huge samurai charging for her. The samurai swung down with his kanabo but Kaede quickly dodged and evaded the attack completely. She failed to notice the smirk on the samurai's face though. Once the kanabo hit the ground in front of her, a wave of earth pillars shot from the ground and shot for the redhead. Kaede's eyes nearly shot from her head, but she simply placed her feet on the tops of each pillar before back flipping away to get a better standing against the samurai brute.

She held her ground as steadily as possible as the brute charged for her once again but this time there was a change of chakra flow and a different element of chakra was being pulsed through the kanabo as he swung down. Kaede took a chakra enhanced jump to dodge the kanabo's elemental attack. Instead of it being earth, a blast of white hot fire shot from the kanabo and spread out, killing the samurai's comrades and allies. Kaede was disgusted by the action and landed on the ground once the flames died out.

The samurai sneered at the redheaded Namikaze and sent a wide swing at the girl with wind chakra pulsating off of the weapon and the steel studs protruding from the body of the weapon. Kaede shot back up with her katana pointed upwards and shoved the blade through the chin of the samurai and forced the entire blade through the head of the samurai, piercing his skull and the top of his helmet. The Uemura and Manabu forces remaining looked in fear of what the Namikaze was able to do. Kaede swished the blade around and sliced it out the front of his face, spraying blood out onto her already blood covered face. The samurai fell to his knees with no life in his body, but his armor and weight held his torso up. Kaede growled and kicked the dead man back, forcing him to splash in the large ocean of blood below.

"Who's next?!" Kaede roared.

_A few hours later…_

"That was some serious fighting you had going on there Kaede!" Hatomi laughed. "Kurotsuchi and I could see you tearing through them from the sky!"

"I only did what I could do at the time." Kaede said trying to be modest. "Besides, how many people did you two vaporize and turn to dust?"

"How about we don't go into that!" Hatomi and Kurotsuchi burst into laughter. The four girls began to converse with the other Okano defenders.

Throughout the night the defenders had a feast for their victory against the Akatsuki and the Uemura. The true heroine of the defense was surprisingly Namikaze Kaede, the Aka-hime no Konoha. After a lengthy talk and an even lengthier discussion about their plans for later on down the road, Kaede was soon enough given the allegiance of the Okano clan and all of their resources and forces at their disposal were hers to take to the fight to Han.

"For as long as you live, we Okano's will follow your command until the end." Tetsui knelt to Kaede. "You have proved yourself to us and nearly died to protect us from Han and his corrupt reach. Destroy him and his organization and we will be forever in your debt."

"Is there anything that we can do?" Tetsui asked.

"There is something…"

_-__Ten miles from the border of Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni…one week later…_

"Reform the line!" The shinobi shouted out with pain evident in his voice.

All along the Great River Kamaji that separated Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni stood the batter Eighth Battle Division of Konohagakure. At the front of the attack force was surprisingly the Kogane Kishi. They were held back by Roushi's Kuroi Manto and Ganban agents and the Seventh Shock Army of Iwagakure. All members of the Golden Knights were wounded and bleeding profusely. Their entire division was suffering the same fate. Since no member of the Kishi could use the hiraishin as proficiently as the Kogane no ōji and the Aka-hime, their combat effectiveness dropped significantly to the level of the Sannin. Even then, they were still beaten badly in the battle of the Great River Kamaji.

Their forces remaining went down from the almost one-hundred-thousand shinobi and samurai, to less than half of that. The remaining forces they had were wounded and some were mortally wounded. The only good thing that came from this battle was that they were able to at least dent the Tsuchi no Kuni defense force and hold them back while the Eighth Battle Division reestablishes their hold on the front lines against Iwagakure.

The Great River Kamaji actually wasn't just one river, but in truth, it was a series of rivers intertwining with one another forming a massive network of fertile farm land in the plains surrounding the area. The ground though, wasn't cultivated and evacuated due to fear of what Iwagakure would do to Konohagakure and vice-versa. But now, looking at the Great River Kamaji, no one could tell if it was a river, for it was now an ocean of blood and rotting corpses. There was more butchered meat on the battlefield than in an actual slaughterhouse. It was a terrible thing to see. Thousands of troops and shinobi were piled onto each other with lifeless, dead, eyes, staring at the survivors of the so far, five day battle.

"Get ready!" Sasuke shouted out raising his sword wielding hand into the air, raising the moral of the shinobi behind the black haired Uchiha.

The leaf shinobi smiled at the boy. He was the last child of his clan. He was the last wielder of his legendary doujutsu, and now, he was leading the most powerful military in the entire Shinobi continent. His power was visible as his chakra began to surge around him and surge power into his sharingan eyes. Lightning pulsed into the chokutō blade of his katana. The shinobi and samurai behind him roared out their battle cry.

"Konoha remembers!"

_-__In the East…_

"Seiji. How are we doing out on sea?" The Uzumaki was asked.

"We are doing well Uncle." Seiji replied to the man.

Standing across the room of the Captains Quarters of the flagship _Mizukami_, was the Prince's uncle, Uzumaki Toshi, Grand Admiral of the Uzumaki Fifth Fleet, which was the largest fleet in existence. Toshi stood at a powerful 6'2" and wore the traditional battle armor of the Uzumaki clan. On his back were two sabres strapped on his back. The most defining features that gave away his Uzumaki lineage was the blood red hair that topped his head and the deep violet irides adorning his eyes.

Toshi was aided by two other Uzumaki's, but they were of the lesser branches. One could tell because of their mixed hair color or different eyes. The two with Toshi at this moment were Uzumaki Takuji of the lesser Uzushio branch and Yamagawa Toju of the Yamagawa branch. Toju had deep red hair with black strands poking through the sea of red here and there. He wore brown armor with deep red sleeves to show his Uzumaki side. Takuji is half Uzumaki and half of a well-known and influential clan in Uzushiogakure. Toju is a master with staff fighting and wields a naginata while Takuji is a master with taijutsu and is also a practitioner of the eight-celestial-gates.

"Nephew, how is the third fleet doing in engaging Kirigakure's eighth fleet?" Toshi asked as he rested his knuckles on the table edge.

"They are as of now defeating them as we speak. With the help of Nii-san, they are tearing apart the Eighth fleet with the seven tailed tiger shark at his disposal." Seiji replied with a small smile. "Now all we have to do is continue the push against the Unabara and we might be able to defeat Kiri at sea and stop them from annexing any more lands."

"Good-"

"Seiji-sama! Toshi-sama!" A crewmember of the _Mizukami_ burst through the door with sweat pouring down his face. "The Unabara fifth fleet is heading in this direction!"

"What?!" Seiji was surprised and charged from the captain's quarters to see far in the horizon a massive wall of warships.

The standard Kiri warship was a bi-masted long boat capable of going twenty-knots per hour, but with the Unabara warships, they were tri-masted long boats capable of going almost forty-knots per hour! They were large Ship-of-the-line class long boats and had huge crews and marine forces for ship to ship battles. The Unabara Fifth fleet alone had at least twenty of these ships.

"Steer a course for a full broadside attack!" Seiji shouted out to his crew.

"Signal the fleet for our elemental jutsu casters to get ready for the long range attacks!" Toshi ordered over the commotion of the warship's main deck.

The alarm was rung in the center of the deck next to the central mast. Shinobi and kunoichi charged for the starboard side of the ship and sped through hand seals, getting themselves ready for whatever may come for them from the Unabara's.

"Kami help us…"

_-__Kaze no Kuni…_

"I am Yakushi Kabuto. I am Kami. I am Lord. I am the true leader of the Elemental Nations." The visually impaired Kage sped through hand seals and slammed them on the ground in front of him **"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"**

Suddenly, from the ground in front of him rose a large row of coffins. The Suna division was horrified of what was to come. They stood their ground though with their pupped and fan platoons standing at the ready to take on whatever the 'Otokage' had in store. But then the coffins popped open to reveal familiar faces of once living Sunagakure heroes and heroines. Their bodies desecrated and tampered with to fit the deranged man's goals.

**"Arise!"** Once the command left his lips, the corpses opened their eyes to reveal pale white irides.

"W-What is this technique?!" One of the Suna jounin asked in disgust.

"It's called…**Edo Tensei!**"

**_-_****_Tsuchi no Kuni…one week later…_**

"Yasuha…" Hatomi looked to her former enemy turned ally and gave her a small but sad smile. "If it means anything…I'm sorry for the way-"

"No need to apologize Hatomi…"

"R-Really?"

"Yeah…I guess…we were just being bigots." Yasuha looked to her sister. "If it means anything, being an Okano isn't too bad."

"Being the…sister to an Uzumaki isn't so bad either…" Hatomi smiled with a small tear trickling down her left cheek.

Yasuha shook her head and embraced Hatomi as tightly as possible, not wanting to let her go. They two stayed that way for almost five minutes. If one were to pass by it would seem like two sisters simply hugging for the love of each other.

After the defense of the Okano Mansion, the two began to seriously bond and see the true emotions of each other, and ended up bonding like true sisters. And as time progressed, they ended up with the sisterly feeling that they both forced down deep in their hearts, force its way up to the surface. It was a long process of denial and avoidance before they could finally confess how they felt and that they really did care. Tetsui couldn't be happier.

But now. There was something that had to be done. Yasuha was to be sent out on a solo mission into the war and get information of the main power players and V.I.S.'s of all sides of the war. As it was, the Kogane Kishi and its members and cohorts were already on the dossier with members of Roushi's Kuroi Manto were making their way onto the official dossier, but Kaede and Tetsui required more information.

So as of now, Yasuha was making her way through the tree filled region of southeastern Tsuchi no Kuni, but quickly found herself in a sticky situation.

She wasn't careful with her chosen path and ended up running into Akatsuki territory and ended up getting surrounded by Akatsuki troops and something called a White Zetsu. She struggled against the new enemy, seeing as there seemed to be a never ending amount of them. It finally hit her though, this White Zetsu as the Uemura and Manabu called them, were nothing cannon fodder to help bolster Han's numbers. How Han got his hands on this type of creation, Yasuha will never know.

After a few minutes of struggle, she was inevitably defeated in the battle and brutally raped in the clearing. They beat her and raped her and beat her some more, to the point that she couldn't fight back any longer. The Zetsu disappeared into the ground and the trees from whence they came, leaving the Uzumaki with a force of hormone raging men. But before they transported her body to Han, they raped her again, leaving her naked on the forest floor, covered in bruises and bloody scars all over her body, as they slept in tents.

_Flashback over…_

"Why should I spare you?!" Han growled. "From what my men tell me, you enjoyed getting fucked like an animal in the forest!"

"I-I didn't!" Yasuha cried. "Please Han! Don't do this!"

"Why should I?! You still haven't answered my fucking question whore!" Han punched her in her jaw, sending her to the floor. 'End her…She is nothing but a liability…with her still alive…she is just a loose end.'

'Do you know what people do to loose ends?' Han's head twitched slightly as the voice grew stronger and stronger. 'Do you?!'

'TELL ME HAN?! WHAT DO WE DO TO LOOSE ENDS! ?' Kokuō howled in laughter.

"We cut them free!" Han's eyes were glazed over as he reached into his kunai pouch and drew out a knife. "We cut them free…"

"Han…what are you doing…" Yasuha asked. "Please…no…Han! NO!"

"Goodbye…Yasuha…"

"Han!" Yasuha started backing away from the prince. "Think rational-GAHH!"

Han shoved the knife in her arm, enticing a high pitched scream to come from the redhead. He tore the knife free from her arm and kicked her away from the wall and into the center of the room. Yasuha trudged slightly with fearful tears pouring from her wide-eyes. The girl started weeping and hyperventilating and charged for one of the doors nearby to escape the deranged prince. But he ran after her and kicked her through the door and into the hallway. But once she landed, she sprained her ankle, rendering her running out of there, nearly impossible.

"P-Please Kami…have mercy!" She started to drag her body down the hallway, but then two Uemura and Manabu rounded the corner with daggers wielded. Yasuha turned her head slightly to see Han and his imposing figure standing over her with a delirious look in his eyes. It was obvious that Kokuō had effectively turned Han into its slave.

"Kami has nothing to do with it." Han said in a low growl.

"Han…" Yasuha pleaded once more. "GAAH!" The Uemura lodged his knife into her chest and started cutting out her right breast while the Manabu started stabbing left arm and left chest, while both were purposely missing the important organs. Yasuha continued to fight back and scream, but to no avail. They continued the painful torture until Yasuha's screams reached a new octave. Han quickly grew annoyed by this and dug his knife into her gut and slashed her belly open, spraying the Uzumaki's guts all over the floor.

"Find a janitor to clean this mess up." Han merely laughed and walked away after cleaning his knife of his former fiancées blood.

_-__Border between Kaminari no Kuni and Hi no Kuni…three weeks later…_

The Konoha Tenth Division, led by Sarutobi Shirai, cousin to Sarutobi Asuma, was holding their ground against the seemingly unending amount of Kumo shinobi. From the previous reports in the early part of the year, Kumogakure had only about eighty-thousand troops not including samurai, but now it seemed that they had enough shinobi and samurai to increase their numbers to well in the millions. The Sarutobi was one of the many clansmen leading divisions into battle, only to be at the mercy of outdated information.

It was a saddening thought, knowing that all of their information was false and outdated. Because of the Uchiha/Senju massacre, Konoha's intelligence flow had been severed quite badly, and information wasn't getting to the village as fast and when the information did, it at most times, wasn't even correct. So as the war progressed into its third month, casualties were stacked painfully high for both Konoha and Kumo, and basically every nation fighting in the war. Kiri was having its navy decimated by Uzushio warships, Suna was struggling to fight off the Otokage and his forces and strange ninjutsu, Kumo was puncturing Konoha defensive and offensive lines in and out of Hi no Kuni, and Iwa was successfully holding back the Kogane Kishi from entering the country.

The Sarutobi sighed in exasperation and glared at the fifth wave of Kumo samurai and shinobi charging at their battle line. The shinobi took his stance as his shinobi soon followed suit. The samurai of his division were placed in strategic parts of the canyon opening that led into a direct path to the capital city of Hi no Kuni. Samurai archers began to pick off incoming shinobi and samurai with fuinjutsu enhanced yumi bows; while the shinobi conserved whatever chakra they had remaining in their shrinking chakra reserves.

The Sarutobi noble shut his eyes and took a deep breath as he channeled his chakra to express his clan's high affinity for fire ninjutsu. His chakra radiated around him as he sped through hand seals faster than any man or woman that most of his division has ever seen. But once he finished he blew out a cloud of ash larger than any Sarutobi had created. The Kumo troops simply looked at the cloud of ash and charged through with little care in the attack, but they were in for a nasty surprise.

** "Katon: Haisekishō!"**

_-__In Uzushiogakure…_

"Father." Seiji knelt in front of his father.

Seiji, now a hero amongst his clan and his people, was draped in a deep red and violet cloak with a wreath of gold and platinum on his head. His red hair accentuated by the gold and platinum, making him look regal of the highest level. His violet eyes showed power and strength beyond belief. He kept his head bowed to his father to show his humility.

"Rise…my son." The old Uzumaki said with a small smile. "As you know…with the death of your sister…"

There was a solemn silence that befell the entire throne room as people looked down and said a quick prayer. The murder of the Grand Princess Kushina still affected Uzushio.

"Back to what I was saying…" The old man struggled to sit up in his seat. "With your sister gone…you are now the heir of Uzushiogakure."

"W-What?" Seiji's eyes were wide with surprise. "What about Toshi-Otōto-oji?"

"I have already spoken to him about becoming the next ruler of Uzushiogakure, but he quickly declined saying he would rather fight and move around than be held back as leader of a village…and he also suggested you to be called up to become the next ruler." The old Uzumaki said.

"S-So…" Seiji asked piecing the information together.

"I wanted to wait for your twenty-first birthday, but I believe it is time for you to become the new leader for our people my son." The Uzumaki elder was helped out of his throne by two lesser Uzumaki's and led down the steps to his son. "I bestow upon you the Uzukage crown. May the rushing waves and swirling tides bring you strength. Now take me home…I wish to take a long nap."

Seiji couldn't help but smirk at his father, but then steeled his emotions and rose from his knees and strode to the throne waiting for him. The chair itself was studded with the most precious gemstones one could find. And the only way to get the gems was to brave the whirling waters of the most dangerous whirlpool of Uzushio appropriately named the Uzumaki Tide. The seat was gold with a little bit of silver melted in to give the throne a shiny finish.

The boy sat down on the chair and immediately felt powerful from the position of the chair. It brought a massive smile to his face to finally become the leader of his home village. He looked ahead and the throne room doors opened to reveal his uncle Toshi and five other Uzumaki commanders from the main family. Their names were Uzumaki Hideo, Lord of the Eastern Islands; Uzumaki Shigeko, Lord of the Southern Isles; Uzumaki Naizen, Lord of Western Islands; Uzumaki Kisho, Lord of the Eastern archipelago and ending with Uzumaki Iwane, Lord of the Northern Isles. Toshi himself was a Lord, but claimed no fiefs or land because he felt that he had no need for such pleasures.

The six High Lords of the Uzumaki clan walked forward towards the new Uzukage. Hideo wore black armor with a blood red cloak on his back with the crest of his Fief sprawled on the back; a seal wrapped around the Uzumaki swirl. Shigeko wore a black cloak with a golden cloud in the background with the Uzumaki swirl, also in gold, on top of the cloud. Naizen wore a purple cloak with a black stork with the Uzumaki swirl on its chest. Kisho wore a green cloak with a three tailed wolf on the back with its tails swirled around each other to form the Uzumaki swirl, and finally ending with Iwane, who wore an orange cloak with a flaming Uzumaki swirl in the center. Seiji looked above and smiled at his own family's crest, it was an Uzumaki swirl within another circle with triangles pointing their tips at the 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions of the swirl.

The six shinobi stopped suddenly in front of the throne steps and all dropped to their knees to the new Uzukage. It seems that Toshi had told the High Lords of the Uzumaki about the ascension of their nephew Seiji to the new leader of their clan and nation. The new king smiled softly at his uncles and raised his hand to signal them to stop kneeling. Once they finished they each stood one by one.

"I, Uzumaki Hideo, Lord of the Eastern Islands, pledge my armies to you Uzumaki Seiji." Hideo called out his new oath.

"I, Uzumaki Shigeko, Lord of the Southern Isles, pledge my armies and fleets to you Uzumaki Seiji." Shigeko bellowed.

"I…"

_A few minutes later…_

Once the oaths were completed, Seiji led them out personally from the throne room. After bidding the five lords from the palace he turned to see his uncle beaming.

"Uncle…" Seiji smiled. "Thank you for what you've done."

"No need to thank me nephew." Toshi replied. "Just make sure you don't make me doubt my decision."

"Understood Uncle." Seiji nodded his head and turned to face the throne once more.

"Now let's go over battle strategies to keep Kiri on their toes."

_-__In Kaze no Kuni…March_

"These bastards!" A Suna shinobi struggled against the incoming onslaught from the west beyond the great sea of sand.

These invaders seemed to have come from nowhere and it terrified the Suna patrols and garrisons of the various fortresses of the Land of Wind. Not only were they fighting a massive amount of shinobi and samurai fighting under the white banner with the eighth-not symbol, but they were also fighting zombies and reanimated shinobi from ages past, _and_ the strange being called a White Zetsu. They were the most terrifying of them all.

It wasn't the Zetsu's skills in ninjutsu or genjutsu, or even taijutsu or kenjutsu even, no, it was their unbelievable amount. They seemed to never end no matter how long or hard you fought. The Zetsu's were never ending. They wore white armor that camouflaged with their already white skin and at their sides were white handled katana's and white bladed katana's. Each one may not have been a kenjutsu specialist, but they swarmed their opponents and destroyed with no remorse. The Zetsu's fought night and day, day and night, and never slept, never ate, never drank. They were the perfect fighting machines for the invading force from the west, which was succeeding in defeating Suna and kicking them from the conflict of the Five Shadows.

The desert sands were painted red with the blood of the people of Wind. The shinobi forces of Sunagakure shrunk completely and had put the village in a deep pit of economic disrepair and its military capacity was crumbling. It seemed as if the entire war was just a distraction from the true point of the conflict.

As the days past by and the war dragged on, the sea of sand turned into an ocean of corpses. A nation-wide buffet for scavengers. The sands were sticky and reeked of rotting flesh. Animals feasted on the mutilated and desecrated those put to eternal rest at sword point. It was a war at its finest definition. No. It was a slaughterhouse. This was no battlefield. It was a mass grave.

The overbearing heat of the desert sun pounded on the remaining survivors. The commander of the division that last fought the invasion of Oto was under the command of the Kazekage's first son, Kankuro, but the puppet corps was brutally defeated by the unbelievable power of the reanimation technique of the Otokage. Not even Sunagakure's famous Shakuton, or Scorch release, was able to scratch the edo tensei. As of now, Kankuro and the remaining shinobi and samurai under his command were wandering aimlessly through the desert. One by one, they fell into the sand with no chance of survival. One by one, they all fell down.

_-__In Uzu no Kuni…April…_

"Uzukage-sama." Hideo bowed to the Uzumaki sitting on his throne.

Seiji after the first two months of being the new Shadow of the Uzumaki and Uzushiogakure, he had taken to the job quite well and showed himself to be a powerful leader and a smart economist. He was great with strategies and had a great mind for creating strategies. Within the first month of his new rule, they had defeated Kiri and the Unabara fleet at every confrontation. Now that his strategies were now orders, the Uzumaki fleets couldn't be stopped. As of now, Kirigakure was struggling to keep their fleets up and running since their ships were being destroyed faster than they were being made.

Manpower was also becoming an issue for Kirigakure and Mizu no Kuni as a whole. They were losing more men than what they could possibly hope. They were struggling in the war against Uzushio and they were also starting to lose land from their island and archipelago territories within the great Eastern Ocean. With the new regime under Seiji, the Uzumaki were no longer on the defensive. The first strike that Uzushio hit against Kiri was against their island territory also known as Shima yōsai, or, the Island Fortress. It was literally, the most heavily fortified plot of land in all of the elemental nations.

But Seiji wanted to make Kiri fear him and what his new regime would do to those who oppose him. He and his fleet attacked the island fortress, and bombarded the castle with explosives and the most powerful jutsu they could shoot off against the Kiri shinobi. The walls were destroyed almost immediately by Uzushio weapons and warships blockading the island from all sides. Once the walls crumbled, Uzushio samurai and shinobi charged in being led by Seiji and Toshi. Within an hour, they were able to completely eradicate all Kiri military presence from the island and burned the Unabara flag and replaced it with the flag of Uzushiogakure.

Within hours of their attack, Kiri began to receive reports of them losing their shinobi and land because of the now, extremely militant Uzushiogakure. Unabara Yagura choked on his turtle soup when he was told of what happened to Shima yōsai. It was a night to remember since Shunji knew that he was going to be the one to kill Seiji for his new role in the war. The Unabara clan had lost a great number of clansmen and retainers and bannermen because of the Uzumaki's stubbornness to step aside and let the Unabara rule the elemental nations.

Flashing back to the present, Seiji nodded at the Uzumaki kneeling before him and motioned for Hideo to continue.

"My lord, I have received reports from the mainland that Kumogakure has successfully broken through Konoha defensive lines and is making its way to the capital city of Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure itself." Hideo reported. "Hokage-sama has sent a request for troops to aid in the defense of the village and its borders. At least until the Kogane no ōji wakes up from his coma."

"What?!" Seiji looked surprised. "Naruto-kun is still in a coma?!"

"He is Uzukage-sama." Hideo bowed his head while some of the shinobi and samurai guards cringed at Seiji's volume.

"Send in two divisions worth of troops and also some of our best medics. That boy is of true Uzumaki descent! The Grand Triumvirate of Suna, Konoha and Uzushio, cannot survive without the Ōji." Seiji ordered. "Send them now!"

_-__Konohagakure…_

In the hospital of Konohagakure, Mito and Arashi were sitting at Naruto's sides with sad expressions on their faces. The four year olds looked distraught by the scene. It has been almost an entire year since the massacre, and Naruto was still out cold. But not only that, their sister, Kaede has been gone for nearly just as long. Their entire clan was murdered in less than two hours, and they were starting to question everything they were. With the dissolution of their clan and the destruction of the Uchiha, the two children were sucked into a deep depression, but the only solace that they had were the letters sent to their big brother from their nee-chan.

But the thing that really got them was the sealed scroll written to Naruto by Kurotsuchi. They kept it to themselves though. They were prodigies and were able to unseal the scroll in less than five minutes. They found that it was a simple blood seal but was modified to do some serious damage to both the opener and the scrolls contents of the blood was rejected. The two were able to find a loophole in between the fifth prong and the sixth prong, under the third layer of the seal. When the scroll unraveled they were amazed at who sent the letter.

They sat in silence as they watched over their big brother. Their blue and violet eyes were blank and emotionless. Mito sighed and laid her head on Naruto's arm while Arashi laid his head on Naruto's chest. The blond Namikaze slept in silence with his eyes darting from different directions with his eyelids shut tightly. His mouth was slightly agape and his nose twitched every now and then. His chest rose slowly and fell quickly only to repeat the motion.

Suddenly though, a great and powerful explosion shook the hospital causing people to fall over and for Mito and Arashi to fall off of their position on their brother. Mito fell to the ground first but Arashi flashed for his younger twin and caught her before she hit the cold tile floor of the room. The two children pushed a chair over to the window of the hospital room and climbed onto the seat and peered out of the blinds, only to see large columns of smoke rising into the midday sky.

_-__Outside…_

"Everyone! Set the defenses along the main street!" Minato shouted out the orders.

He was ready to slaughter some Iwa shinobi, but instead all he got were the armies of cloud. The numbers surprised him though. He wasn't ready to take on this amount of shinobi and samurai. He looked to the sky and prayed a silent prayer for the Uzumaki to hurry. After his prayer was recited, he looked to his ANBU body guards and nodded before flashing away in a bright yellow light and reappearing in the fray just outside of the village walls.

Minato drew out his hiraishin kunai and flashed at amazing speeds, beheading, dismembering and mutilating his opponents before they knew what hit them. He was fast and his skill was perfect. The Kumo shinobi quickly realized why he was Hokage and they now felt the true power of the Senju clan. Minato flashed in front of a Kumo jounin and smashed a rasengan into his gullet. But before the shinobi and samurai could react, five Minato's flashed and killed five more shinobi and samurai. In another blink of an eye, there seemed to be twenty Minato's flashing about.

Within moments, blood began to rain onto the battlefield outside of the central village. But in the eastern and northern villages, the Kumo shinobi were successfully defeating and pushing back the Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi defenders of those two villages. With Nikudan Sensha going off and gentle fist strikes being heard, to gatsuuga and Shintenshin, the five clans weren't so successful in holding off the unbelievable horde that Kumo had managed to erect in such a short amount of time.

Another explosion shook the five villages of Konoha as a large six tailed black bear was summoned in the center of the Northern Village. Its massive teeth were barred against the defending clans of Konoha and began to thrash about, swinging its six tails, crushing and annihilating everything in each swish and swoop of the furry appendages. Each step it took caused small shockwaves to occur, ruining the balance that the jyuken and Shintenshin users needed to succeed. The Kumo shinobi took full advantage of the weakness and attacked with no remorse and slaughtered without prejudice.

Men, women and children; Shinobi, Kunoichi and Samurai; all were cut down and hacked apart by the incoming shinobi and samurai, but what they didn't expect was the Prince himself. The great Kirabe or Killer Bee as many called him. Shinobi and Samurai howled out in pain as their life left their bodies. Killer Bee was spinning through the streets with all seven swords wielded. As he spun, one couldn't see his dark skin, or his bright white jounin flak jacket of Kumo, but instead, all they saw was a tornado of blood coming for them in a terrifying manner. They watched as their friends were viciously slashed apart by the seven sharp bladed swords wielded by the master.

Killer Bee jumped up from his one leg and spun down, bringing his free leg down on a konoha jounin and spun around using his scarf as a distraction before he slashed open the throats and tendons and ligaments of his victims. He dashed forward with his tentacles now holding onto his seven swords as he engaged any unlucky shinobi or kunoichi chosen to become his next opponent.

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! No matter how much you muh-fucks try, you can't beat me! WHEE!" The man called out, confusing a few more just before the light left their eyes.

Suddenly a flash broke out in front of the dark skinned prince. Minato stood with his battle haori over his red Senju armor. On his forehead was the hitai-ate of konoha. In each hand was a hiraishin kunai oozing wind and lightning chakra elongating the blade of both kunai knives. Minato glared intensely at the dark skinned prince and tilted his head slightly and focused his eyes on the hiraishin seal still on the tentacle from all of those years ago. Minato simply smirked and flashed away once more.

He slashed for Killer Bee's back, but the man simply sidestepped the attack, but once Minato missed, he flashed once more and reappeared behind Bee with a rasengan in his right hand. Before the attack could hit though, Bee jumped forward and kicked Minato's hand away, dispelling the rasengan. The blond Hokage flashed again and leg swept Bee sending him over onto the dirt path. But before Bee could touch the ground, Minato flashed again and lodged his fist into Bee's jaw, flashing again and again, Minato bombarded Bee with punches, kicks and elbows, until Bee flew into the side of a building on the street.

Minato spun around and flashed away to one of his kunai that he left on the ground and found that a Kumo shinobi was using it to kill Konoha samurai. The Hokage flashed to the shinobi and dug his fist into the side of the Kumo man's face, sending him flying, while Minato grabbed the hiraishin kunai. Once the Kumo shinobi hit the ground, dead, Minato spun on his heel and hurled the kunai in the direction of the largest concentration of Kumo shinobi and flashed away.

_-__Elsewhere…_

**"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"** Three giant toads popped onto the battlefield.

One was a maroon toad with red markings all over his body and had a large tanto knife proportionate to its body. The two most defining pieces of his attire was the large pipe in between his lips and the great blue yakuza-esque jacket with the kanji for 'Boss' in the center. The toad drew out the tanto and slashed down, destroying some of the Kumo war machines summoned onto the battlefield by unknown means. The next toad was larger, significantly larger, and was a light teal color with two swords on its back. The massive toad hopped forward and engaged the massive bear summon in the Northern village, only for three more bear summons to pop onto the battlefield. The final toad was a maroon-violet color with dark lines around its eyes. It dashed ahead and began to beat its opponents with its massive sasumata.

Every strike that the bears hit on the toads, or vice-versa, the ground shook as the vibrations increased with each strike and hit. The wind contorting and bending to each shockwave. Shinobi and samurai were flying about as the wind shot from the paws and flippers when they collided. The two giants backed away from each other one more time and glared at each other before taking the fight out of the village for a better battle. Jiraiya sighed in relief and ran off through the village gathering any stragglers together for a counter offensive.

It has so far been three hours since the invasion and Konoha was slowly losing ground and troops. It was a good thing that the other villages were evacuated to the Hokage mountain catacombs, or else this battle would have gotten a lot worse than what it could be. Shinobi and samurai were being led to the Hospital which happened to be the only safe haven from all of the killing and fighting. But after the fifth hour of the invasion, the hospital could no longer accept patients, causing many of the wounded to have to wait out in the sun and in the dirt streets with other wounded, or even dying shinobi.

_-__In Tsuchi no Kuni…_

"Hey…where the hell is Yasuha?" Hatomi asked once more.

It has been two months since Yasuha was sent out on her mission and she hadn't reported at all. Tetsui and the rest of the Okano's were worried for her well-being but made sure not to make much of it until one of their spies or agents still in the Akatsuki could tell them of what's going on in the organization. Form the last report from their agents was that the Uemura and the Manabu were starting to lose Han's trust. Suddenly a loud screech came from above bearing the sigil of the Okano clan. The hawk swooped down and perched itself on Tetsui's shoulder.

The old Okano pulled out the message scroll and nearly dropped the message before he could even read the report. The first sentence he could make out was _Yasuha is dead_. Tetsui growled and handed the letter to Hatomi, whom of which, had started to feel the true sisterly bond between herself and Yasuha. The Okano daughter took the letter with uncertainty, but once she took the letter and read over it, she collapsed onto the ground with tears pouring from her eyes.

"What happened?" Kurotsuchi came running in with Kaede right behind her. "What's wrong?"

"R-Read it…" Hatomi weakly replied.

"…w-what?!" Kaede shouted in anger. "That bastard…murdered her…"

"We have to do something Kaede!" Hatomi shouted. "You promised us Okano that you'd handle that asshole! And now he's taken my sister…kill him! Mutilate him! Tear him to shreds! Just END HIM! Please…"

"Don't worry Hatomi-chan…Han will pay for his transgressions." Kaede knelt down to the weeping black haired Okano and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and sighed softly. "I'll make sure he does."

Kurotsuchi walked towards the door and motioned Kaede to follow and let the Okano's mourn Yasuha. Once the two were out of the room they quickly walked through the hallway and looked out the window of the hall to see Okano guardsmen and mercenaries walking and talking and rebuilding throughout the courtyard and mansion. Kaede took a deep breath remembering the massacre that happened almost an entire year ago. She didn't even know if her brother was still alive or not. She didn't know if he was awake or not. But what she did know was that, it didn't matter the state of his health, she would still fight in his name.

"Kuro-nee." Kaede suddenly said, breaking the silence that befell the two of them. "Han crossed the line…big-time."

"I know. The only problem is that the Okano's don't know where he moved the meeting place of his organization." Kurotsuchi said. "There are three different hideouts that we have to check for."

"Good thing it's only a small number." Kaede replied.

"Y'know…" Kaede said suddenly. "In truth…I'm scared of what will happen when I confront Han. I am having a strange feeling that this entire operation won't end the way I'd want it to…"

"What makes you say that?" Kurotsuchi asked with a surprised expression.

"I don't know…it's just this gut feeling that won't leave me alone." Kaede sighed in exasperation.

"I know what it is." Kurotsuchi placed a hand on Kaede's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "You're just nervous and anxious for the end of this Road of Vengeance. That's all. We'll find him and beat him soon Kaede. I know it!"

"…hell yeah-ttebayo!" Kaede cried out.

_-__In Konohagakure…_

The invasion has reached its sixth hour of siege and destruction, with little progress in holding off the entire Kumo invasion. While the Kiiroi Senko was able to at least loosen the numbers and tightness of the Kumo flanks, there were still too many to deal with and his chakra was dangerously low and he was out of practice since the massacre. His once white haori was now red and sticky with the blood and entrails that he forced from his enemies.

The entire konoha defense force was pushed back towards the Hokage palace in the back of the central village with its rear wall resting against the Hokage Mountain. Konoha was boxed in and the hospital was well within allied territory so the Ōji was perfectly save and his little siblings were fine as well. The royal family was protected by four agents of the Shimura ROOT ANBU.

But the defense didn't last as long as the defenders would have hoped. The bear summons broke through after dispelling the three toad summons and rampaged through the central village and trampled over the defenses and shinobi and samurai. Kumo shinobi ravaged the central village and pillaged the belongings. Samurai dodged and slashed open shinobi and kunoichi, before disposing of more enemies. Killer Bee had somehow recuperated and was in Stage 2 bijuu cloak with blood red chakra pulsating on his skin like the blood that flowed through his veins and arteries.

Next to the eight-tailed ox jinchuriki was the two-tailed cat jinchuriki, Yugito Nii, cousin of Ay and Bee. She too was in her stage 2 bijuu cloak. Their chakra was radioactive to non-jinchuriki in their current form and only had to touch enemy shinobi to kill them and suck out their chakra. With each death that they caused, they spread the radioactive chakra residue into the air and once inhaled, ruined the senses of the shinobi or whomever inhaled the dangerous fumes.

During the fight though, Minato was badly wounded and his right arm hung limply at his side while a medic shinobi worked furiously on the dead and wounded arm. She had managed to stop the bleeding, but failed to mend the shattered bone. Minato looked around to see his troops fighting with the unquenchable Will of Fire. He could see it in their eyes. He could see it in their faces. Sweat covered brows, and dirt covered faces. They were willing to give their lives for their village.

But their defense and resistance was futile against two stage 2 jinchuriki and a large host of bear summons that easily defeated three master toads of Mount Myoboku. Jiraiya was starting to weaken in the fight and was now trying his hardest to regain his chakra, but was bashed in the side of the head with a chakra enhanced war hammer that nearly crushed his skull, but sent him to the ground unconscious with a major concussion.

Minato looked over to see the other clan heads start falling down in battle. One by one, his friends and comrades were defeated by mere cannon fodder. Minato looked to see the greatest clans of Konoha get bested by Kumo and their horde. It was no longer a battle, it was a farce.

Amidst the chaos ensuing in the village under fire, the hospital was just as bad. But the Medical Corps under the command and leadership of Senju Tsunade, the Sandaime Hokage, were hard at work healing and mending the physically and spiritually wounded defenders of their precious village. A heavy explosion shook the village as one of the great wolf summons of Kumo crashed through the outskirts of the village and began to trudge through the defenses like they were dirt.

"Please…Kami…help us…" Tsunade prayed as she stared out at the damage being done to the village. "We need a miracle!"

The Bear summons were starting to make their way towards the hospital in an attempt to rid Konoha of its golden prince. But just as all hope seemed lost, the most unexpected of heroes came when he was needed most. In a great screech of power, the five bear summons were launched over the central villages walls and over the western villages walls and into the great forest on the outskirts of the village three miles away. The being that caused this made the Kumo invasion's throats dry in fear. He was radiating all of the power of the world. There he stood, in the translucent yellow head of the great Kyuubi no Kitsune, also known as Kurama. Black seals spread throughout the giant nine-tailed fox's body and on the man's body from within the head itself. His skin was glowing with a yellow light showing who he was. He was golden just like the sun that shined down below them. He looked down at the chaos that had suddenly frozen in its tracks and bellowed out to the men and women fighting below.

"**Namikaze Naruto at your service, -ttebayo!**"

* * *

**So that's a wrap!**

** Naruto is awake! Naruto is back! What will he do now that he's completely combat effective? Seiji is now the leader of the Uzumaki clan and Uzushiogakure? What will that lead to? Yasuha is dead...but what will Kurotsuchi and Kaede do to find Han? Kaede has a bad feeling about the final destination of the road called vengeance, but what is it that she is expecting to see? How will Kaede end Han? Will Naruto be able to find her and stop her before she does anything irrational? Will Kurotsuchi be able to stop Kaede or her brother should things go awry? Find out next chapter!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	9. The Setting of the Crescent Moon

**So here is the final installation of the 'Road to Vengeance' arc**

**Big, Massive GINORMOUS thanks to FeartheMightyToothpick for giving me four amazing characters to use in this fanfic and onwards! so, without further ado-**

**Disclaimer: If i owned Naruto, it would be the most hentai creation on this planet.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Setting of the Crescent Moon**

**The Road to Vengeance Arc**

**Part VI of VI**

** "Namikaze Naruto, at your service, -ttebayo!" **Naruto howled out to the masses.

He held out his two palms and dark chakra began to mix with his good chakra, forming a gigantic purple ball of dense chakra. He glared at the largest concentration of Kumo shinobi and shot the ball of condensed chakra at the incoming Kumo division, annihilating every last one of them. Once the attack finished, his bijuu form of Kurama began to dissipate as he floated down to the ground. Kumo shinobi and samurai looked at the golden prince with shaking breaths and shaking bodies.

"You bastards are going to pay for what you've done!" Naruto tilted his head and flashed towards the Kumo held side of the central village and plowed a big-ball rasengan through the street, killing endless amounts of shinobi, before flashing to another part of the village with his sword drawn. But all that most saw was a bright golden line, spreading throughout the village, beating down, tearing apart and defeating the Kumo invasion.

"The Prince is awake!" One of the jounin cheered.

"Naruto-sama is here!"

"Cha! Victory is ours!"

"Everyone! Push forward!" Minato shouted over the cheering voices and rejoicing shinobi and samurai.

_-__In Tsuchi no Kuni…_

Kaede and Kurotsuchi were standing in the middle of a training field with their swords drawn. Both stared intently towards each other ready to charge, but before their fight could start, a massive wave of soothing Yang chakra washed over them. They both lowered their defenses and smiled slightly until the realization hit them. That Yang chakra wasn't just anyone's, it was Naruto's. Kaede looked to see Kurotsuchi start to twitch the corners of her lips into a beaming smile.

"H-He's…awake…" Kurotsuchi said with a little too much giddy-ness in her voice.

The redheaded Namikaze couldn't help but smile at her Nee-chan. Kurotsuchi, the Princess that went through too much heartache and pain, now, had a chance to make it all better. Kurotsuchi could feel the excitement in her bones; she could only just wait for the embrace of the Kogane no ōji. She waited long enough for Naruto, and now she was ready to take him.

The two princesses smiled softly, but then realized another thing. Why would Naruto use Kurama's chakra, unless…Konoha was under attack?

"Everyone! Tetsui-sama! Kurotsuchi-sama, Kaede-sama!" An Okano footman barged through the newly made gate. The footman bent over and panted heavily before straightening out for the Okano patriarch. "K-Konoha is under attack!"

"What?" Kaede's eyes went wide. "Where's the Kogane Kishi?!"

"Roushi is keeping them at the front lines!" The footman replied. "Roushi has them completely surrounded from all sides! The Otokage is tearing through Kaze no Kuni and defeated Kankuro's division and is heading towards Gaara and Temari's Divisions! The only help that Konoha will possibly receive is the large Uzumaki force heading towards the mainland."

"W-What's…why are the Uzumaki heading towards Hi no Kuni?" Kaede asked.

"You don't know?" The footman asked incredulously. "The new Uzukage is Uzumaki Seiji."

"Uncle S-Seiji?!" Kaede's eyes went wide. "Sweet!"

"He has been destroying and holding off the advances of Kirigakure, and taking land from the Unabara Empire that had formed for a short while." The footman said. "That man is a genius."

"Understood…so what do we do?" Tetsui asked Kaede and Kurotsuchi. "You two outrank me so what are your orders?"

"We…uhm…" Kaede looked sheepish and trailed her eyes over to Kurotsuchi, who simply sighed.

"Kaede and I will take on the hideouts. We need to find Han and the Akatsuki. This has gone on for far too long." Kurotsuchi said. "We need to end him."

_-__In Konohagakure…eight hours later…_

"D-Damn…" Naruto panted. "There are still more of them?!"

The boy had been flashing about for eight hours, killing hundreds of thousands of his enemies. But because of the fact that he had just woken from his coma, he was still weak. He bent over to throw up a little from exhaustion but other than that he was completely fine. Taking a deep breath he drew his katana and raised it into the air, leading the Konoha shinobi to shout out in excitement. Even though they were able to push the Kumo invasion back to the Northern village, the invasion still had a large number in Konoha as a whole.

But before he could charge again, a hand rested on his shoulder. Naruto turned to meet the eyes of his father. The two had a silent conversation through the short eye-contact and Naruto lowered his sword and sheath the blade. Night was coming and Konoha needed to regroup and reassess the situation. Naruto looked over to his troops and friends and limped over towards the nearest tent. Shinobi and samurai left and right, sighed and followed suit. Samurai Archers and shinobi began to set up defenses and getting nighttime patrols up to defend the not so lucky parts of the villages under their control.

Naruto winced when the effects of straining his body to fight the Kumo shinobi came to hit him full force. He pulled the blanket of the bed roll over his body and blissfully went to sleep. But the dream that came wasn't as peaceful.

He stood in a field with Kurotsuchi on one side with Kaede on the other. The two girls walked up to the prince and grabbed him for a tight hug. His sister let go and walked ahead of the two lovers and watched from a distance with a smile on her face. But, the sky turned dark with thunder booming in the distance. Kurotsuchi released Naruto from her arms and got into a fighting stance, just as Kaede had done, but from the brush of the grassy plain they were in, came Yamauchi Han. Naruto cried out to his sister to stop her from doing anything rash, but the cry came too late. Kaede charged in for the Yamauchi, but was stabbed through the chest by Han's nodachi. Naruto felt the pain in his chest flare up. He felt the power explode from within as his rage took over.

Everything turned black.

But once color came back, the field was sprayed with blood. He looked to see his twin lying on the grass with the nodachi still embedded into her chest. The prince slowly walked towards the girl and knelt at her side with tears flowing down his face. His eyes suddenly widened at the thought. He looked over to see Han lying on the grass as well, with his chest torn open, as if a wild animal had attacked him. Naruto looked around to look for Kurotsuchi but couldn't help but feel his heart wrench at the sight.

Kurotsuchi was lying on the grass in a pool of her own blood. Her intestines ripped from her body. The poor girl was struggling to breath and her eyes were wide with fear. She held her lacerated belly as she mumbled incoherently. Kurotsuchi stared at the sky with no emotion whatsoever. But then Naruto came along and collapsed onto the ground right next to Kurotsuchi.

"K-Kuro-chan…" Naruto whimpered.

"D-Don't…touch me…" Kurotsuchi sputtered. "Demon…"

Naruto felt his heart rip in two. He was about to reply, but a loud boom of thunder interrupted his thought process and he was forced from the world of his vivid dream. Naruto shot from his bedroll to see that it was morning outside of his tent. He threw the bedroll cover off of his body and dashed from the tent to see that Kumo had sent in a counter attack a few hours before dawn.

Samurai were battling it out with other samurai bringing more to their deaths, but Naruto sensed something strange with the new Kumo force. He sensed the cells of his great-great Grandfather; Hashirama. Naruto flashed out feeling rejuvenated and kicked the being with the same cells as his ancestor and knocked the…thing…to the ground. Naruto picked the being off the ground and punched its helmet off of its face and glared intently at the pale yellow eyes it had.

The Zetsu only smiled before attacked the ōji as well, but it didn't last. Naruto quickly tore the Zetsu's arms off of its body and kicked it away, leaving it to die. The prince turned to face the samurai and nodded his head before flashing away once more. The boy zoomed in on one of the Kumo shinobi, and bashed his knee into the man's chin, sending him flying high into the sky.

"Everyone! Set up your formations and get ready for a counterattack!" Naruto hollered out to his forces.

After receiving nods and grunts as responses, he activated his bijuu cloak. A long haori grew to his legs. Golden light exploded from within him and blinded many of his opponents. Naruto simply smirked before giving the order to charge.

"For Konoha!"

_-__In Tsuchi no Kuni…_

"We need to hurry and head out to the dead country. Han might be onto us and start moving out." Kurotsuchi said walking up to Kaede.

"Agreed." Kaede replied. "Tetsui-san."

"Yes, Aka-hime?" The Okano replied.

"Kurotsuchi and I are about to head out." Kaede said. "We will need some supplies and some reinforcements to aid us into the dead country."

"Understood. We'll get the materials and shinobi ready as soon as possible." Tetsui ran off from the room and into the compound looking for the right supplies.

Kaede sat down on a chair and looked across the room to see Kurotsuchi conversing with Hatomi about Iwa things. The redhead sat in silence as she waited for her knew ally to come back. She sighed slightly and looked down at the floor. Every few seconds she'd feel her brother's chakra fluctuate then calm down. It was non-stop. She knew that Konoha had been attacked, but she didn't realize that it was this bad. She could sense Yang Kurama shooting off his chakra to defeat whatever they were facing back home and it kind of scared her.

But just as she became lost in her thoughts, four people were led into the room. One, the tallest, had hip-length, sanguine-maroon colored hair, tied at various points. He looked fierce with his pale white eyes, and dark pupils residing in the center. On his forehead was a tattoo in a strange writing, similar to kanji, which said 'master smith'. Two crossed hammers and a chain were tattooed onto his chest. The final physical trait of his face was the considerable amount of stubble.

For his attire, he wore an open fireproof, fiber mail, shirt, underneath a jacket made of the same material. And as for pants, they were of the same, fireproof fiber mail material, with a few seals here and there for added protection. Across his waist was a dark green sash with many seals imprinted on the strange cloth. The man looked not only physically intimidating, but his attire really helped sell the appearance. But his clothing or physicality weren't the only intimidating things about the man.

His weapon of choice was a horrifyingly, powerful looking, war hammer connected to a bo-staff. The hammerhead glinted in the dark light, which was a surprise. The weapon stood almost as tall as the man that wielded it. The bo-staff itself was a deep and beautiful violet color, with a few golden threads sewn into the handle as well. The hammerhead was of golden color with a tailed vortex at each end of the blunt weapon. The amazing thing about the weapon was that it was made from Oseishinkane, or the Great Spirit metal. Little did Kaede know, that was the same type of metal used in her own sword.

"This is-"

"Luo Dao Long, at your service." The muscled man bowed to the Namikaze and Yamauchi present in the room. "As you can tell, I am not from this land."

All heads nodded in response, a little disgruntled by his strange accent. Now that they were getting a good look at the man, his skin was lighter than most people here in the elemental nations got. Not even Uzumaki had skin as pale as his, nor was their skin as…yellow, as his. His eyes were darker than most and his build was just a different as everything else about him is.

Then a small sound was made and all heads turned to the person standing at Luo's right side. The boy had black spikey hair and just like Luo, had pale white eyes with a dark pupil residing in the center. His skin was just as pale, if not paler, and had a somewhat, challenging smirk on his face, that seemed to be stuck on his pristine skin. He, unlike Luo or the other companion, didn't wear a shirt to cover up his muscled torso. But instead, chose to wear a tattered shoulder cowl, two belts crisscrossing his abdomen, baggy pants that normal shinobi would wear, and finished off with bulky combat boots.

On his back were two large scythes. They seemed to be radiating strange energies and a powerful aura seemed to surround the two scythes. The only difference about these weapons was that they were big like a real scythe, but small enough to be wielded by each hand, effortlessly. Kaede sensed it, and was able to find that the boy had a bloodline limit. It was an unknown bloodline to her and it had her on edge.

"Yotogi Shikei. Apprentice to Luo Dao Long." The black haired boy smirked at Kaede and bowed deeply before rising up to stand straight and tough. "Wherever Luo Dao goes, I'll follow and whatever Luo Dao orders, I'll do it."

Kaede and Kurotsuchi smiled at the boy's honesty and looked to the last of the trio. The last had messy white hair, and of course, white eyes. The only difference was that the last member had somewhat, darker skin than the Luo and Shikei. The white haired girl looked like she hadn't had a care in the world. She wore no shirt, but instead, wore a bra that barely covered her bust, with an orange jacket covering the rest of her body. The sleeves were wrapped in chains and kept the large appendages of the jacket, skin tight. She wore dark black poofy pants with a dark orange sash wrapped around her waist, and strangely, wore no shoes.

Her weapon was a considerably long double-edged spear with a black cross made of strange design. A blade was combined on each side. Then strapped to her right leg wasn't a kunai holster like what most shinobi or samurai might have, but instead it was a strange weapon in a holster of sorts. It had a barrel and a strange looking trigger mechanism. Kaede concentrated her chakra and sensed that the weapon could shoot chakra out like bullets. The girl looked over to Shikei with a small hidden smile and a light tint of a blush, but looked away with a grunt of mild disgust.

"I'm Tanshoku Yaseo." The girl smiled at Kaede and Kurotsuchi. "You two are prettier than I expected."

"I…I don't know if that was supposed to be a compliment…" Kaede growled.

"Take it as you want." Yaseo smiled.

"…Well then." Kaede stood straight. "Thanks!"

"No problem Aka-hime."

Then there was a small cough from the quartet and Kaede and Kurotsuchi turned their heads to see the final person. He was a pale skinned boy with red hair and eyes to match the hair. He had the masculinity as Shikei and even the same facial structure. He too was shirtless, but wore black shoulder cowls with two belts intersecting across his chest holding the cowls to his body. A dark grey sash was wrapped around his waist and had a long line coming off the side.

One his back was a large double edged broadsword. Its blade was black and was made of the same material as Luo's war hammer. It looked powerful, yet nimble to use in a fight. The boy had a powerful, yet mature and calm aura that surrounded him, unlike Shikei.

"I am Yotogi Recca. Twin brother of Shikei, and the voice of reason." The redhead bowed to the two princesses.

"It's nice to meet you four." Kurotsuchi said with a calm voice. She and Kaede bowed to the four with smiles on their faces and looked to Tetsui once they finished introductions.

"These four are wandering sells words looking for something to fight for and someone to fight for." Tetsui said. "Price for them isn't an option, but it is a nice reward for doing what they do best."

"Which is?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"Assassinations, combat, front-line duty, bodyguard duty, all kinds of things." Luo said. "These three are my wards from over the years of my travels."

"Well, we should get going as soon as possible." Kaede said as she fixed her armor and sword.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The new team headed out of the Okano's territory and back into the rocky wilderness of Tsuchi no Kuni heading straight towards the dead country, also known as the Mountains Graveyard. Kaede had always only heard of stories of the place, but now that she was finally given the chance to see it for herself, she was quite afraid of the land. The stories spoke of dragon bones from millennium past. The legends of great creatures that died in that land, and the ones that still run amok the fallen country.

But at least she had a reliable team behind her. Kurotsuchi was definitely high on the list and the four newcomers moving their way up the list, even though they've only known each other for a little over two hours. Already she could tell that Yaseo had some sort of crush on Shikei, but the cocky bastard was a bit of a sexist, so it usually turned Yaseo off. Kaede stifled a laugh and realized that Sasuke was the exact same way.

Lao was level-headed and knew his stuff when it came to forging weapons. Turns out, he was taught by Masamune himself, the same man that made Kaede's new katana. Kaede wasn't surprised at all really; only a great master smith like Masamune could teach something like that to someone. The group was making great time, until Kaede sensed a great number of enemies heading in her direction, but something felt off…like Senju DNA…specifically…her Great-Great Grandfather Hashirama.

Kaede raised her fist to halt her small company. The six jumped down from the rocky plateaus and landed in a small clearing. There were no stones, but instead a few large blades of mountain grass with a few shrubs and brush. Kaede narrowed her eyes as she sensed the chakra signatures getting closer.

"There!" Kaede pointed forward as she sped through hand seals. But Yaseo beat her to the punch.

"Take this!" The white haired girl pulled out the weapon from its holster on her side and held it out.

The girl pulled the trigger, and suddenly, a blast of blue and white chakra shot from the barrel, spiraling in mid-air, cutting and slashing through the air. The first target came into view and the bullet of pure chakra, sliced through the being, blowing out the back of its green haired head. The being shot back a few feet and landed in a painful heap.

Kaede looked over to her side to see Shikei charging forward with his twin-scythes drawn as he engaged a few of the white-skinned beings. The first Zetsu came into contact and sent a punch for Shikei, but the black-haired boy, dodged and lodged the scythe blade into the gut of the Zetsu. He struggled slightly when he realized that the bodies of these beings were tough. He channeled his chakra and shot the blade through the Zetsu's body, cleaving it in two.

Kurotsuchi was surprised at their ability to fight. Suddenly from out of the sky came Luo with his golden war hammer drawn out. Below him were five Zetsu's with katana's drawn out. When Luo came into range, he slammed his hammer down onto the Zetsu's. Kurotsuchi expected them to explode or something, but what she got, is something that she'll never forget. Once the hammer was brought down, the Zetsu, imploded and the ground lifted up with the shattered Zetsu. The rocks and dirt was shot up a few feet into the sky as a wave of chakra and energy shot off from the impact source. Everything within a ten foot radius was lifted off the ground. Luo simply smirked and charged forward, with flames dancing off of his fireproof clothing, towards the remaining Zetsu.

Across the other side of the opening, Recca jumped in with his broadsword drawn. Chakra radiating off of the blade, giving it a dangerous aura of malicious intent. The boy landed on a Zetsu and cleaved the clone vertically. Both halves fell over to opposite sides, giving Recca perfect view of the rest of the fight. He, unlike his brother, didn't enjoy the idea of killing. He only did it because that was what was asked of him.

He shook his head from those thoughts and charged forward to cover Yaseo's flank while she handled a few more Zetsu from long range with her strange weapon. With each blast of chakra, Kaede could feel the life force leave the Zetsu clones. With each slash and strike from Shikei and Recca, she could feel their emotions flicker and rage. With each bash and bludgeon, she could feel the gravity field around Lao displace and fluctuate, before going back to normal. It was in one word: Amazing.

Kaede had never seen fighters like this before, and had to say, she was extremely impressed with their skills, but she also wanted to see what their bloodlines were. Kaede could sense bloodline limits in all three apprentices of Lao. But she had yet to see them. She smiled to herself. She now had a chance to defeat Han. That much was certain.

_-__Hi no Kuni…fifteen miles from Konoha's west village…_

"Kan-sama…" An Uzushio shinobi bowed to his divisional commander. "It seems that Konoha has lost half the village once more. Kumo is pushing more and more troops in for a complete take-over of Konoha and her lands."

"Go on jounin." Uzumaki Kan replied with a gruff reply.

"Already, there seems to be two divisions worth of Kaminari no Kuni samurai on a warpath towards Konoha as we speak." The jounin replied.

"How long until they get to Konoha?" Kan asked.

"In about three hours at the minimum." The jounin bowed to his commander and excused himself to let the Uzumaki think the situation over.

"Cousin." A feminine voice sounded next to him.

The redhead turned over to see his cousin standing behind with a sword strapped to her back and elaborate, silver-plated armor. She looked regal and extremely dangerous at the same time. Her violet eyes burned with excitement and fury.

"What are our orders?" The woman asked. "Seiji wants a report as soon as possible."

"Understood." Kan replied. "Tell Uncle-Seiji, that we are ready to push Kumo out of our sister village. All we need is the ok to begin the repulsion."

"You heard the commander!" The woman replied.

"Miki. If the order is given to charge, I want you to lead the first strike." Kan ordered.

"I won't fail you cousin." Miki gave Kan a small smile before gathering her men for a strike against the gathering Kumo forces.

"Just be careful ok?" Kan asked. "I don't want to explain to auntie why you got hurt or worse."

"Again. Don't worry!" Miki laughed. "I'll be fine!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Charge!" Miki roared over the sounds of clashing blades and exploding jutsu. "Let's kick these Kumo bastards from our lands!"

"Yeah!" Naruto hollered out with his fellow Uzumaki. "Let's take em' down-ttebayo!"

With the Uzumaki now pouring over the walls and flanking the Kumo invasion, Konoha's moral skyrocketed and Naruto now led the charge alongside his cousins, Kan and Miki. The three dashed through the Kumo ranks and dragged their swords through their enemies' gullets and abdomen's, gushing and tearing out their organs and flooding their throats with blood.

Naruto quickly sped ahead, and true to his moniker, he was a golden prince, draped in a golden light, as he tore through his enemies in a bright yellow-golden flash. Miki spun on the butt of her blade and slashed about, beheading and dismembering Kumo shinobi while taking a few hits to her arm and cheek, but nothing too seriously. Kan was doing extremely well in his fights. The redhead smirked and fixed his unruly, spikey red hair and focused his violet eyes at the enemies building up in front of him.

The Uzumaki wore a set of dark black shinobi armor with deep red baggy shinobi pants and black shinobi sandals. His sleeves were a blood-red mixed with a maroon tint. His spikey hair would sometimes flip down and cover his right eye, but he would flip his hair to make it stay out of sight. On his back is a large sheath for the blood drenched nodachi in his hands. He looked at the built up Kumo samurai and sheathed his nodachi for a better show. He sped through a quick pattern of hand seals.

**"Uzumaki Hijutsu: Jetto Bakudan!"** The man brought his hands to his lips as he took a deep breath.

The chakra built up in his mouth. His once shut eyes shot open to reveal cerulean-violet eyes. He shot off his jutsu terrifying the samurai with its effect. Large bullets came spiraling out of his mouth at high speeds and once they made contact with each individual samurai, the men exploded outwards with their armor completely shattered and mangled. In the watery haze of mist that came as a result of the jutsu, blood was mixed in the haze giving the land around it a watered down bloodbath.

Miki saw this and shook her head at her cousin's mediocre technique and spun through a few hand seals of her own, albeit not as fast as the more experienced Kan.

**"Uzumaki Hijutsu: Kachū Ha no jutsu!" ** The girl brought up her hands as chakra exploded from her body.

Once she brought down her hands, a large whirlpool formed in midair from the moister in the air and started pulling in shinobi and samurai from Kumo. The horrifying effect of this technique was that the rushing waves were as sharp as the sharpest katana and can cut through even the toughest of metals. As more and more shinobi and samurai were sucked into the volatile monster of water, the once blue turned into a murky, chunky and disgusting hue of red and black. Once the road was clear of any opponents, Miki shot the jutsu forward, drenching the Kumo samurai and shinobi in the blood and diced body parts of their comrades and friends.

Naruto flashed out of the blast area and nearly gagged in his mouth when he saw the amount of blood that hand rained down upon his enemies. It was repulsive, but the state of his village was more repulsive. He hated seeing this much destruction in general, but to see it happen to his village, it made him want to hurl. So many innocents dead in so little time. Naruto sighed his emotions away and flashed off to continue the fight, all the while, Yang Kurama was giving him a pep talk.

_-__In the Dead Country…three weeks later…_

"So t-this is it huh?" Shikei asked with a slight shudder crawl beneath his skin. The black-haired boy looked over to his twin brother with a distraught expression. All the while, Recca merely gave the boy a bored look. Yaseo sighed and got in between the two and wrapped her arms around the two boys' necks.

"This place isn't too scary-"

Suddenly the ground reverberated with a deadly roar from within the dense forest. All the twenty year olds huddled behind Lao. All five of them shivering with fear, while Lao stood unshaken by the sound. Shaking his head, Lao motioned for the five young adults to follow behind as closely as possible. They had to enter the Dead Country through a canyon, but at the end of the canyon was a gate of sorts made from bones that belonged to some massive creature.

From what Yaseo, the scientist of the group could tell, the bones seemed to be a part of the ribcage of the animal that the bones originated from. The closer they got to the bone gate, the clearer the rest of the country became. In the distance from their high position about the land, they were able to point out various skeletons that were easily miles long, and hundreds of feet high. There was another howl into the air. All heads snapped in the direction of the sound and they all could see birds flying out of the forest in fear of the source.

Kaede though sensed something else. It wasn't an animal or beast that was howling. It felt…human. Kaede focused her chakra and send out a large arc of energy to scan the entire area. From their position above the ground, it wouldn't be too hard to pinpoint the direction of the screaming man. Within seconds, she found the howling man and pinpointed his position in an area with a deep depression within the ground, much like a catacombs.

"Follow me!" Kaede shouted. **"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"**

From the massive blast of smoke came a hawk. Originally, a summon that only Sasuke had, the boy let her sign the scroll for her nineteenth birthday. Now she had the perfect reason to use the contract gifted to her. All six shinobi hobbled onto the eagles back as it shot up into the sky with Kaede giving it directions.

_-__Mountains Graveyard Akatsuki Base one…Manabu held…thirty minutes earlier…_

"Han-sama!" the jounin howled in pain. "What are you-!?"

Han shoved the blade of his nodachi through three of the Manabu shinobi and slid the dead trio off of his sword, shoving the three dead bodies to the side of the hall and out of his way. Coming from the far end of the hall came three more Manabu shinobi with axes and spears wielded. Han merely shook his head and sped through hand seals.

**"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!"** Han spit off a large wave of fire, incinerating the shinobi before they knew what was coming.

As they fell, with their skin melting off, Han trudged through the base, slicing and hacking his way, effortlessly, towards Ige, the head of the Manabu clan. As the seconds passed, Manabu numbers shrunk drastically. With the base getting torn apart and leveled with each floor descended, Han was beginning to feel the effects of letting Kokuō control his body. The damned dolphin-horse was enjoying her free time as a weapon. It had been a long while since Kokuō had this much fun.

Han forced steam and chakra to his fist and shot both through a wall, exploding it outwards. Once the smoke and dust resided, Han walked through the massive hole in the wall and smirked at Ige standing with his Kanabo wielded and his Manabu honor guards standing at the ready with naginata and ninjato drawn. Some had jutsu ready and others had shuriken and kunai in reserve.

"How could you do this to the Manabu?!" Ige shouted out to Han. "We have been so Loyal-"

"Don't spat that shit to me!" Han roared. "The Okano's betrayed me and they were the first clan to join me! Then Yasuha. My fucking fiancée betrayed me…so where's the proof that you and the Uemura won't betray me too?!" Han, by the time he finished his speech, he sounded slightly delirious. "Back at our previous base, I murdered everyone, even those who have been following me from the start! Who's to know who'll betray me next!?"

"He's turned crazy!" Ige shouted to his men. "He has become a liability to the Akatsuki! End him!"

_-__Three minutes later…_

"Han-sama!" Ige screamed as his legs were ripped from his body. "No please! Not the bull! Not the bull!"

Two earth clones of Han rushed up from outside of the base and hauled in a hollow bull made from pure copper and iron. Another set of Han clones brought up a brazier and began to fill it with wood and other flammable objects. The old Manabu clan head continued to fight back, but Han didn't let up. Once the bull was placed down in the perfect spot, the Han clones opened up the side of the bull and stuffed the legless, but healed Ige into the belly of the bull.

Out in the center of the room, there were five men left. All five were Manabu. Han smirked as his clones walked up to each one and broke their legs and arms. Each one screamed and hollered out curses to Han's name and family. Each one writhed in excruciating pain. But before they could voice their discomfort in the situation, Han opened the side of the bull once more and began to stuff them in there, one by one. Soon enough the bull was filled to the brim with six men.

"Begin."

The clones nodded to their creator and pushed the now, inferno wielding brazier, underneath the bottom-side of the bull. The effects were slow, but as the earth clones collapsed and turned back into rocks and pebbles, Han couldn't help but smile at his handiwork once the screams became audible. It came out like a bulls moan and groan, but it was in fact, the pain filled screams of his victims. No one was coming for them, no one was going to save them. No one will even care.

_-__With Kaede…_

The hawk landed on the ground in front of the entrance and the six warriors slid off the back of the bird. Kaede immediately drew out her sword and Kurotsuchi followed shortly afterwards.

"Yaseo, Recca. You two guard the area and make sure my hawk doesn't dispel!" Kaede and the rest charged into the catacomb entrance.

"Why do we have to stay?" Yaseo asked with a sigh.

"We were ordered to do so." Recca replied emotionlessly. "What would you recommend we-"

_BOOM!_

The ground shook violently nearly causing the structurally unsound catacombs beneath the area to cave in on the four warriors looking Han. Yaseo and Recca looked up towards the east and saw a large smoke column billowing up into the sky. The smell of blood and rotting flesh entered their noses. The smell of burning apple wood and oak cause their skin to shiver. It was a horrifying place to be now. Neither knew what was going on. Neither wanted to know what was going on.

_-__With Han…_

"Take this!"

Han swung down with his fist balled up, and smashed the skull of the Uemura clansman, sending the dead shinobi to the ground with his head split open. Han dashed forward with clones jumping out of his body and charging for the other shinobi aiming to get a shot at their former leader. Han, despite his massive and imposing size, jumped up and sent a flying roundhouse kick, snapping the neck of his opponent, forcing the Uemura back into another Uemura.

Once the man landed he punched a clansman in his jaw, and spun around with his armored forearm up to shield himself from an attack from an Uemura guardsman. The sickle sword shattered once it made contact with Han's armor plating. The guard looked at Han's pink eyes with fear. Han simply smiled and grabbed the man by the throat, and tightened his grip, crushing the man's trachea. The Yamauchi laughed slightly and tossed the dead guard to the blood soaked floor and turned to face his target. Uemura Soichiro.

The strong willed Uemura was tougher than his Manabu counterpart, Ige. Soichiro wielded his kanabo with precision and power in each strike. So far, Soichiro was able to defeat each earth clone that got too close to him. Han saw this as a challenge and smiled wildly at the prospect of meeting someone willing to fight for their life.

"So it seems that you've gone off the deep end of sanity…" Soichiro stated, only pissing Han off.

"You and your worthless clan of cannon fodder and traitors will end today!"

_-__The border between Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni…_

"Sasuke! Use that jutsu!" Kakashi called out from the barrage of explosives and jutsu being flung at them.

As it was, for almost five weeks, the Kogane Kishi and their divisions were stuck and surrounded from all sides by Roushi and his army. For almost five weeks, they had to scrounge the area for food and peaceful shelter. But now, they were significantly weakened, and they really needed to get back to Konoha to regroup and reform their forces so they could help Gaara take on Tsuchi no Kuni and Iwa. But it wasn't as easy as it sounded.

So far, their casualty rate was at a whopping 85%. With many men and women dead or wounded, Sasuke was worried that they wouldn't be able to break free from the deadlock. There was a deep rumble in the sky as dark thunder clouds began to form and swoop into the battlefield. Rain began to fall and started to wash the blood from the battlefield and cleanse the area and the wounds of both sides. Sasuke jumped up from the ground and landed on top of a large plateau that was strangely untouched throughout the entire conflict.

Raising his hand up to the sky, lightning began to shoot down and wrap around his arm and extended hand. He smirked at the amazing amount of natural power. It felt rejuvenating, it felt…dangerous. With a flick of his wrist, the lightning began to conform and contort to a different shape. A massive dragon of amazing size began to swivel and swim through the sky and the sea of clouds that housed it. Sasuke brought his hand down with a defiant shout.

**"Let you be gone with the Thunderclap! Kirin!"**

The Lightning dragon shot down from the sky and headed straight for the large concentration of Iwa samurai and shinobi directly in front of him. The resulting explosion was blinding and beautiful at the same time. Sasuke jumped down from the top of the plateau and landed behind the walls erected for protection and awaited the incoming lightning shower.

He shut his eyes as the volts of lightning began to shoot off through the walls openings and holes. There was a horse tied to a rock post, but a stray volt of lightning shot off for the horse and once they made contact, the horse withered and went into shock, right before it fell dead. Every nerve ending it had, fried and non-existent.

Sasuke's eyes were wide with surprise coupled in with unbridled fear. He reached for his chokutō strapped to his back but he realized that the screams were over and the incoming fire had receded. He looked through a nearby hole and saw that Roushi and his forces were in full retreat. Sasuke had wide eyes and looked to Kakashi whom of which gave a small sigh of relief.

But then the sound of beating hooves shook their eardrums and the ground. Kakashi drew out his chakra blade. Guy drew out his nunchaku and activated the fist celestial gate. Kotetsu and Izumo summoned up the conch mace and their kunai blades. Aoba and the remaining members drew out kunai and got their jutsu ready for incoming attack, but what surprised the Kogane Kishi, was that the attack never did come, well not for them at least.

Looking past the wall, arrows and jutsu were being flung, shot and chucked at the retreating forms of Roushi's army. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the new coming army but sighed in relief when he saw the Uzumaki swirl on white banners. The sound of jangling metal and spurs rung about as a horse trotted its way to the pinned Konoha division. The rider was a powerful looking man with a black-strapped hitai-ate with the symbol for Uzushiogakure.

He wore a maroon set of armor with a black long-sleeved undershirt. His pants were black with red lines going up the sides. He had a long sash of black and red going from his right shoulder and wrapping around to his bottom left waist. Tied around his neck by a golden and platinum chain, was a beautiful, blood red cloak with a seal wrapping itself around an Uzumaki swirl, showing his loyalty to both Uzushio and the Eastern Islands of Uzu no Kuni.

"Uzumaki Keizo, son of Uzumaki Hideo, at your service." The redheaded man smiled at the shinobi. "Our new clan head and leader said that our brothers on the mainland needed out help."

"Your timing is impeccable." Kakashi laughed as the rest of the Konoha division's moral began to rise significantly.

"We arrived just on time it seems." Keizo smiled. But his smile quickly fell to a frown.

The Uzumaki jumped off of his horse and landed just a few feet away from the konoha shinobi and their defenses. The Uzumaki drew out his katana and quickly struck down a few Zetsu's that thought they could stand a chance against him. Keizo kicked one back, breaking it in two, and he spun around with his katana drawn, and sliced the jaw off of an Iwa samurai, spraying blood onto the wet, and raining battlefield.

Once the body collapsed onto the ground with a loud splash, Keizo raised his sword, bringing down lightning from above, interlocking with his own katana. The Uzumaki smiled at his ingenuity with seals and pointed the blade at the still retreating form of Iwa samurai and shinobi. Kakashi and the Kogane Kishi looked in confusion and curiosity. With a small flicker of chakra, the built up lightning in the blade, shot forward in the form of a dangerously large dragon.

The result was stupendous; lightning shooting out in all directions, almost like the Kirin, but a thousand times more destructive. The falling raindrops became conductive to the high voltage in the air, and once it hit its victims, which just so happened to only be Iwa shinobi and Samurai, they fell dead after living out the rest of their lives in excruciating pain from almost twenty million volts of electricity flowing through their system.

Once the battlefield was clear and the Iwa army was nowhere to be found, Keizo simply turned to the Kogane Kishi and gave them a letter, before going off in pursuit of Roushi's army. As the Uzumaki army charged ahead, leaving Konoha troops in the wake of their flowing mud wake, Guy was the first to speak up.

"**YOSH! HIS YOUTH IS EXPLODING IN ALL DIRECTIONS AND-**"

"Gah! Shut up Guy!"

_-__In Kaze no Kuni…_

"Kabuto-sama." A sound jounin bowed. "The Jinchuriki prince; Gaara, is on his way here. From our reports, he is riding on a massive wave of sand."

"How in the world did he make it out of Tsuchi no Kuni?" Kabuto asked slightly surprised by the turn of events.

"The Uzumaki showed up."

Kabuto involuntarily shivered. Now he was scared. If the Uzumaki were to get completely into the mainland war, then they could easily seal away the souls of his reanimated shinobi, which was the only weakness to the jutsu. He needed to think of his options, but knew that a full retreat and a different approach would be the only way to take the elemental nations for the Shogun.

'Oh yes. Shogun-sama will love the new land.' Kabuto shivered with anticipation. 'The United Lands shall annex more and more…'

"We must pull back now!" Kabuto shouted out. "The Prince of Suna is on his way here right now, and I doubt that he'll let us live."

_-__With Kaede…_

"Do you guys hear that?" Kaede asked. "It sounds like a bull…"

"Yeah, but what bull would live underground?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"Who knows?" Shikei replied. "Let's just hurry up and find what we're looking for. This place reeks."

"It reeks of rotting flesh Shikei." Luo said with a gruff voice. "I trained you to use your senses damn it. Now use em'."

"Yes master." Shikei sighed in defeat. "I don't know what happened here but it seems to be a massacre of sorts."

"We need light…" Kaede said. "Wait! I have an idea. Kurotsuchi, let's fire off two fire balls down the hall to light the end."

"You got it!" The two sped through hand seals and finished at the same time. **"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!"**

The two girls spat off a massive ball of fire that as it flew across the hall, lit torches and braziers that were hanging on the ceiling and connected to the walls. The fire illuminated the dark hallway and gave way to ominous shadows and the sight of an innumerable amount of corpses. Each one desecrated and mutilated beyond belief. Someone did this, but whom?

Kurotsuchi looked around and pushed one of the armored corpses over to look at their affiliation and gasped in surprise.

"T-These guys are Manabu clansmen!" Kurotsuchi cried out.

"These guys are too!" Kaede shouted back.

"A pile of them are right here as well!" Shikei replied with a small gag in his voice.

"There are so many dead shinobi here…" Luo grunted with a scowl on his face. "Let's go. We need to find Ige."

"I hear something!" Kaede shot off through the hallways leaving Kurotsuchi, Shikei and Luo behind. "Come on!"

"Wait!" But when Kaede didn't reply to Kurotsuchi, the black haired princess scowled. "Baka! Come on, let's go!"

The redheaded princess of the group bashed through walls and forced her way into new floors and new rooms, sometimes even forming new ones. She was in a deep rush and felt a strange feeling in the bottom of her gut. It was a feeling that she began to feel once she sensed her brother's chakra. It was a deep foreboding feeling. It was as if fate was telling her that she wasn't going to make it to the end. It was as if she wasn't going to finish her vengeance. The girl shook those thoughts away and continued to bash through walls and hallways, until she crashed though into a large atrium of sorts.

There were large pillars holding the ceiling up with seals and carvings, drawn into the rock pillars. All around the atrium though, people were lined up against the wall and along the red carpet that stretched from the throne sitting at the far side of the room, and to the entrance which was a massive black door. She walked up to the people lined up and quickly realized that they were all dead. Their eyes and tongues were torn from their heads and mouths. Kaede fought hard to resist the urge to hurl, but instead looked at the statue that they were bowing to.

It was a red hot metallic bull, steaming from its nose with a great brazier. Kaede was confused and drew water from the air and put out the fire from underneath the bull. Walking closer she came to realize the source of the sound; it was coming from within the bull…

Kaede sped through hand seals and shot from a large, but weak water jutsu, drenching the entire bull in ice cold water in an attempt to cool down the bull, and in turn, save whoever was in there. Once the water began to steam, Kaede threw the water away and replaced it with fresh ice cold water. Once the bull was no longer red hot, she walked up to the side of the bull and opened up one of the compartments and looked within, only to throw up from the side.

She shut the compartment without a second thought and slid down to the floor with her back against a pillar, just a few feet away from the bull. There was no way she could save those men. There was no way she could get information out of the Manabu. Maybe fate was right to tell her that she couldn't make it. Kaede let out an exasperated sigh and banged her head against the pillar in frustration.

"Kaede!" Kurotsuchi's voice sounded as the other three entered the atrium. "God, where have…oh my god?"

"What the hell happened here?" Shikei asked in disgust.

"Oh my…kami…did Han use the bull?" Luo asked with a crack in his voice.

"Take a look inside if you want to know what I mean." Luo knelt down onto his knees and began to pray.

Shikei and Kurotsuchi were slightly cautious after seeing Luo do this but went ahead to open the hatch of the bull, only to have the same reaction as Kaede. The two threw up all over the ground and the bull itself. But, one of the people shoved into the bull moaned out in pain from their regurgitation. Both Shikei and Kurotsuchi screamed out in fear and ran towards Kaede to see that the girl was already hiding behind Luo.

"P-Please…c-come here…" The man moaned.

Kaede and Kurotsuchi were reluctant but went ahead anyway. They came to see the face of an old man, melted and boiled. He looked at the two girls, deep into their eyes and gave out a heavy cough before continuing.

"Aka-hime…Yougan-hime…Han-sama…has g-gone rouge…" The man moaned. "He…he…mur-murdered the entire Manabu c-clan…as of now…he is p-probably…eradicating…the Uemura…s-stop him! P-please…" And with that, the last Manabu fell dead in the belly of the metallic bull.

"We've been here for too long…we have to go and save the Uemura before anything else like this happens." Kaede quickly stated. "Come on, let's go! We have to get to the second hideout."

_-__With Han…_

"I don't think you understand the futility of your situation, Soichiro." Han laughed.

At his feet were the bodies of Soichiro's sons and daughters, all killed by Han's hand. The Uemura clan head held his kanabo as firmly as possible and glared at the jinchuriki in front of him. Next to Soichiro were the last five Uemura with their sickle swords drawn out for defense. For the last three hours, Han had been destroying and annihilating the Uemura clan with no remorse in each attack. With each man, woman and child that he killed, it only aggravated Soichiro.

Han was now the biggest traitor that Iwa has ever had. Not only did he betray his nation and village, but he betrayed the very people that helped him defect. Han though, gave no care to such thoughts and merely smiled mercilessly at his second to last enemy on his list of loose ends and targets. At the top and last person on the list was Namikaze Kaede, the Aka-hime herself. But Han wasn't just going to kill her, he was going to have a lot of fun with her first, especially since her mother didn't let him have to pleasure of doing it.

Soichiro took advantage of Han's moment to think and ordered two of his clansmen and guardsmen to charge ahead at the shinobi. But once they got close enough for an attack, Han slashed out with his nodachi, cleaving the head off the guardsman, and spun around and clasped his hand around the other's neck, squeezing the life out of the Uemura. Han threw the Uemura to the ground and smashed his boot through the boy's skull.

"Kill him!" Soichiro roared as he charged up from the front to handle Han.

The head Uemura swung wildly for Han, but the shinobi backed away and kicked the clan head back, sending Soichiro to his throne. The three Uemura and guards engaged Han in a battle that didn't last long at all. Han elbowed one in the jaw, snapping his neck immediately afterwards. The giant of Iwa, head-butt another shinobi and took out a single bladed kunai and lodged the weapon into the forehead of the other. With all three dead within three seconds, Han turned the rest of his attention to Soichiro.

"You…bastard!" Soichiro roared as blood flooded his throat.** "Bakuton: Dai Baku jisatsu!" **

Though Han wasn't scared, he was surprised by the sudden turn of events. He called upon Kokuō and transformed into the five-tailed dolphin horse itself as Soichiro's body exploded outwards, evaporating and vaporizing everything the great, red-orange blast touched. The giant five-tailed dolphin horse couldn't be contained in the tiny room (tiny compared to a bijuu) beneath the ground, and forced its way up to the surface of the dead country, but not before nearly colliding with a hawk flying above.

_-__With Kaede…_

"Holy fuck!" Kurotsuchi screamed out. "Hold on you guys!"

The hawk went for a 360 degree air-spin and leveled itself out as Kokuō flew through the sky, before it landed into the great forest of the dead country. Once the gargantuan dolphin-horse landed onto the ground, wind began to rush outwards, nearly blowing the six shinobi off of the hawks back and into the air towards the ground below. Kaede tightened her grip on the hawk's feathers as it struggled to keep itself steady.

"I-It's Han in his bijuu form!" Kurotsuchi shouted above the rushing winds. But once the hawk regained altitude, Kokuō stared at them for a few moments before gaining what seemed to be a smile and charging off into an unknown direction.

"Follow him! Whatever you do, don't lose his trail!" Kaede commanded.

_-__In Konohagakure…two weeks later…_

"Kumo is finally in full retreat." A jounin said. "All that remains is removing Kumo resistance still most-likely placed in and throughout the northern and western villages."

"Understood. Dismissed." Naruto replied.

The golden prince was sitting in the throne of Konoha since his father was out of commission for the time being. As he sat, he was reading over the different scrolls that Kaede had apparently sent him. But then he came to the letter from Kurotsuchi. His eyes trailed over each sentence and each word. As the seconds passed, his tears were finally known as they dribbled down onto the scroll below in his hands. For the past half year, he was in a mental debate on whether or not he should leave Kurotsuchi and go off for a different girl. But now, this letter had told him that Kurotsuchi, the girl that he loved, that he could truly say that he loved, loved him back. Hell, still loved him, even after all of the shit that happened.

Naruto felt his heart wrench at the thought of losing Kaede and Kurotsuchi. But he was pissed off too. Kaede should have known that revenge wasn't the answer to this kind of problem. She should have known that this is a dangerous path to be walking on. In an analogy that Naruto once used, 'Revenge is like walking on a line of floss across the Valley of the End with a blindfold on and no chakra.' The blond haired prince merely sighed at his sisters choices.

It has been a few hours since he had started reading the twenty-some scrolls piled up next to his hospital bed. And now he was about half-way and nearly broke out into bawling tears of sadness and joy. A great deal of the scrolls was from Kurotsuchi herself, each one filled with her day's actions and her meals and her conversations with Kaede. Naruto smiled softly when he realized that Kaede had accepted his and Kurotsuchi's relationship, even though he knew that he and Kurotsuchi still needed to fix some issues before they could go back to being what they once were.

He sighed and looked off to the last scroll sent to him. Kurotsuchi and Kaede were closing in on Han, and they had just finished off defeating the Okano sisters for the first time. Naruto was amazed at their skill and level and couldn't wait to see Kaede and give her a scolding of a lifetime and see Kurotsuchi once more. He rolled up the last scroll and placed it onto the pile with the rest of the scrolls and sped through a few hand seals and sealed them into his wrist for safe keeping.

But suddenly, a vision shot into his head.

The area was ablaze with fires as red as the blood that flows through a person's veins. There were dead bodies everywhere, littering the green grass beneath the clearing. In the center stood three people. Two were female and one was a massive man with dark red armor, covering his entire body. On his head was a large helmet made of the same metal and had a hitai-ate connected with a scratched out Iwa symbol on the plate.

Of the two females, one was a beautiful redhead with whisker marks and golden armor, while the other was a gorgeous black haired girl with black armor. The redhead had vibrant cerulean eyes while the black haired girl had dull-pink eyes. The two girls were damaged badly and both seemed to be struggling against the, as it seems, unscathed opponent.

The giant man charged forward with steam pouring from his furnace connected to his back and smashed down on the two girls, in an attempt to kill them, but they both evaded the attack at the perfect moment, but the two girls were injured by the massive shards of debris that came flying after them. The two girls landed next to each other, just a few feet away from Han. The poor giant had his leg stuck in the ground. Kurotsuchi saw this as an opportunity to ensure the survival of Kaede.

"Kaede! Go! Run!" Kurotsuchi desperately screamed. "Go back to Konoha!"

"I…I can't let you die!" Kaede replied.

"Just go! I'll handle my brother." Kurotsuchi let a stray tear fall from her eyes and onto her cheeks. "Tell Naruto-kun that I love him…and that I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the end…"

The vision suddenly faded bringing Naruto back to the present. Naruto gripped his head with a pain filled expression. He growled slightly and looked around with tears forming once more. Mito and Arashi though, looked at him with worried looks in their cute and innocent eyes. Naruto took a deep breath and embraced his two siblings as tightly as possible.

"I love you two…" Naruto softly spoke.

"We love you too Nii-san!" Mito and Arashi shouted, trying to outdo each other.

"I promise that I'll do everything in my power to protect the two of you from whatever might come after us…"

Naruto would have hiraishined to Kaede, but she had somehow overloaded his hiraishin seal on her body, rendering Naruto to have to run all the way to where ever the hell she happened to be. He leaned back into his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose and let out an exasperated sigh. He felt defeated even though, he and his cousins from the ocean were able to charge in and win victory. He looked up to the ceiling and whispered a silent prayer to Kami.

_-__With Kaede…_

"He's…back in Taki…" Kurotsuchi whispered with wide eyes. "Kaede…he wants to fight us back where it all began!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Kaede asked with a raised eyebrow. "What is with that fucking clearing damn it?!"

"Doesn't matter now, Kaede-sama, Kurotsuchi-sama." Luo said. "We must end him as soon as possible. That explosion most likely, annihilated whatever Uemura were left in the base."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm excited to take on this guy!" Shikei laughed.

"Oh shut up Shikei." Yaseo bashed the back of his head with her fist, nearly knocking him off the back of the bird.

"Damn you Yaseo!" Shikei hollered as he gripped the back of his head.

"Alright. We're here." Kaede shouted as she stood up. "I'll meet you guys down there!"

"What…" Kurotsuchi asked. "Wait! KAEDE!"

The redhead paid no attention to the shout and jumped off the back of the bird. From almost 10,000 feet off the ground, Kaede brought her arms and legs together to increase her speed as she descended towards Han. On the ground, Han merely smirked and transformed into Kokuō to meet the jinchuriki of the Yin Kurama. Kaede laughed out loud as she channeled the Yin chakra of Kurama, changing her bright light to that of shadows. The bangs that framed her face shot up and the tips turned a deep black, as did the rest of her hair, while still retaining the deep red. A deep black haori formed with white magatama markings at the hem and on the collars.

As she got closer and closer to Kokuō Han, she quickly formed into the full body of Yin Kurama. She, unlike her brother, transformed into a black and white version of Kurama. Instead of black seals spreading form her back to the rest of the chakra body, the seals were white and the body itself was black, leaving Kaede barely visible. She held back her fist and smashed the fox appendage into Kokuō's face, sending the dolphin horse over into the trees.

Still in her Bijuu transformation, she sent a blast of wind in the form of a concentrated bullet, and the attack bashed Kokuō across the face, causing it to roll in pain in the trees below, digging up a great deal of dirt and debris. Kokuō continued to roll through the landscape, but stopped abruptly when it smashed into the side of the mountain, crushing it and leveling out the rest of the mountain range when it collided.

"It's time to make this a little easier!" Kaede lifted her hands from within Yang Kurama's chakra body. **"BIJUUDAMA!"**

The great ball of heavy and compressed chakra shot off for Kokuō. As the attack came closer, Kokuō formed her own bijuudama and shot it for Kaede's. The two massive spheres of volatile energy smashed together and shot up into the sky, where it exploded shaking the earth for miles all around. Once the light died down, it came to reveal Kaede now down to her regular bijuu cloak and Han still as Kokuō.

"Kaede!" The hawk came swooping down and landed next to the Aka-hime. Kurotsuchi jumped off the back of the hawk with Luo, Shikei, Yaseo and Recca right behind her. "Don't forget about us!"

"You got it!" Kaede replied. Suddenly, Kurotsuchi went into second stage bijuu cloak and hunched over on her fours. Eight tails were swinging wildly behind her.

"Kokuō…destroy all of them…" Han's deep and terrifying voice sounded from within Kokuō's mouth. The moment the words left Han's mouth, at least thirty Han clones, imbued with Kokuō's chakra came rushing out of her two front hooves.

"Take them down! Destroy the legs and we'll be able to handle Han!" Kaede shouted as she vanished into the shadows of the forest.

"You heard the princess! Move it!" Luo roared as a Han clone got too close.

He bashed the gut of the clone with his hammer, blowing out the entire torso of the bijuu enhanced clone. Flakes of the clone rained outwards and collided with many different enemies and other clones. He looked over and drew out a golden throwing knife and hurled it at one of the clones heading his way. Once the knife met its mark, the clone's head exploded, with a cloud of chakra residue floating around where the clones head used to be.

But Luo got distracted and was met with the butt of a nodachi colliding with his temple. He stumbled slightly, but managed to draw out one of his golden knives and lodge the weapon into the chin of the clone. Luo looked over to see his students doing better than what he had originally hoped. Especially Shikei.

Shikei jumped ahead and raised his hands revealing his kekkei genkai. He took a deep breath and began to force out the spiritual energy within the Han clones engaging him causing them to fall down to the ground, losing their chakra and will to fight. Soon enough, it led in for Recca to come in and show off his bloodline. Recca shut his eyes and began to concentrate, and started to separate the physical energy of the Han clones, causing them to become weak, and soon enough, all of their chakra combined in mid-air and evenly distributed itself between the twins, Kurotsuchi, Luo, Yaseo and Kaede.

Yaseo felt the rejuvenating push from the explosion of bijuu chakra and Shikei and Recca's own chakra. She drew out her pistol and starting putting chakra bullets into Han clones that got too close for comfort. She spun around and sent a kick, bashing one of the clones across the face. In mid-air, as she was spinning and the clone was falling to the ground below, Yaseo, pulled the trigger shooting off three bullets that pierced the face mask of the clone, blowing out its jaw, its nose and its tongue.

When she landed on the ground she sped through a few hand seals before slamming her palm onto the ground.

**"Inton: Tengoku shiro yari no jutsu!" **Suddenly, bright white spears shot out from beneath Yaseo and lunged forward, tearing through the Han clones that got too close. The white spears shot out and continued on their war paths, but became absorbed when it hit allies. Another Han clone caught the slip on her, and kicked her abdomen and raised her over his head, before hurling her over to a tree. Expecting her to simply bash into the trunk and die, he left. But Yaseo had a different plan in mind.

Spinning in mid-air, she drew out the double-ended spear from the seal on her back and slashed outwards, crushing the tree trunk. She then stabbed one end into the ground and used it as a pole, and spun around to face the clone head on.

"You call that an attack?" Yaseo laughed.

With Kurotsuchi, the black haired princess was coming to terms with the fact that the opponents that she was facing weren't her brother. She had already killed off three of them, and now the mental effects began to kick right in. Her body weakened slightly, but she shook it off and took on another clone. She jumped close to the clone's face and lodged her fist into the clones face.

**"Bakuton: Jiraiken!" **The clone was eradicated quite violently.

Once she landed on her feet she was surrounded by clones. She spun on her heel and kneed one in its side and jumped from the same leg and shoved her elbow into the clones head. She spun around and threw a kunai into the throat of another clone, and charged for the next clone, only to get it smashed into the ground by a clone of Kaede.

"All of us must take on Kokuō together to take Han down!" The shadow clone shouted. Kurotsuchi looked around to see clones of Kaede taking down the remaining Han clones with amazing and beautiful speed in her flash.

Yaseo walked up to Kurotsuchi with a black eye and a large gash on her forehead. Blood covered half of her face. Shikei and Recca hobbled slightly next to Yaseo. Shikei had a deep gash on his right leg, but it seemed to only be a flesh wound. Thank god for those baggy pants of his. Recca had a large cut on his chest, but it wasn't anything to worry about as of yet. Luo was the last to show up. His cheek had been slashed open, but not deep enough to leave a painful scar.

The four looked to see at least fifty Kaede clones built up together in a triangle to take on Kokuō. The real Kaede landed behind the head clone and turned to face her team.

"Alright here's what's going to happen. I will destroy the legs and you guys send off the most powerful attacks you've got. Kuro use your bijuu's power and use a lot of it. Kokuō isn't a normal bijuu since it is a piece of the Juubi. Your bijuu might even exhaust itself and it might not even be able to scratch Kokuō, so once you feel both of your chakras running out, don't hesitate and drop out." Kaede said with a calm expression and calm and collective voce about her. "Understand you guys? I don't want any unnecessary casualties to happen."

"You got it Kaede-chan!" Yaseo replied with a smile. "Let's do this!"

"Go!" Kaede charged forward with her clones as big-ball rasengans formed in their right hands.

**"Fuuton: Cho Oodama Rasen-tarengan!"** The girl and her clones jumped up and rammed the massive spiraling spheres of chakra into Kokuō's front legs, tearing off the skin and destroying its ligaments and muscles in its legs, forcing it to collapse onto the ground.

"Now! Hit her with everything you're got!"

**"Youton: Dai Yougan no nami!" **Kurotsuchi took a deep breath and shot off a massive tsunami sized blast of lava towards the fallen bijuu.

**"Inton: Tengoku shiro yari no jutsu!"** The blast of white spears shot ahead towards the bijuu.

**"Fuuton/Suiton: Kazedama/Teppodama!" ** Shikei and Recca shot off their jutsu's and the two attacks ended up mixing with one another forming an even bigger attack of both water and wind.

**"Katon:** **Gōka Messhitsu!"** A massive stream of flames shot off from Luo's mouth and collided with the other attacks combined into one.

All five attacks combined into one, tearing apart the landscape. But before any damage could be made to anyone of the group, Kaede hiraishined in, grabbing every member of her team and flashing to a safe distance away. Once the technique was over and the members looked around in confusion, they saw a giant dolphin-horse floating in the sky covered in molted rock with spears of white shooting in and out of its body. Large bullets of water and wind were shooting back and forth against the bijuu's body, tearing it to shreds, add in the Gōka Messhitsu, and Kokuō was now nothing but a blob of flaming doom.

"And now, everything should explode in about three seconds." Kaede smiled. And right on cue, the giant horse, exploded in a wonderful light, of bright red, blue and black, spreading all around the dead country and raining down chakra and the power of the bijuu. Nobody saw the shirtless being falling down from the giant cloud.

'No way…' Kaede's eyes were as wide as plates. 'No way he could survive…I can still sense his chakra…I can still sense him!'

"Kaede…what's wrong?" Kurotsuchi panted slightly as the effects of using almost all of her chakra in the last ditch effort to beat Kokuō came full force. "Why aren't you celebrating?"

"H-Han isn't dead…" Kaede mumbled.

"What?" Yaseo asked while taking a deep breath.

"I don't think I heard you right…" Shikei trailed off hoping he indeed, heard her wrong.

"Han is…still alive…" Kaede looked back to the forest and back to her team. "I sensed his chakra falling from the sky."

"What do you…Holy SHIT!" Kurotsuchi screamed out.

Kaede was about to turn around and see what was wrong, but it turned out, Han had somehow crossed almost half a mile in less than thirty seconds. He was shirtless with his ribcage and muscular system showing. His face mask was removed from his face revealing a ruined mouth and torn up cheek. She smashed his fist into Kaede's face, sending her plummeting through the trees and into the ground below.

"Kaede!" Shikei shouted in anger.

He and Recca dashed for Han, but the rampaging man, kicked Recca into a tree trunk across the forest and send his chakra enhanced elbow down into Shikei's skull, nearly killing the poor boy. He was sent crashing through tree branches and smaller tree saplings, with many nearly impaling him because of his lack of clothing to protect his torso. Han then turned his attention to Yaseo whom of which pulled out her pistol and began to pull the trigger mercilessly.

"Take this!" She channeled a large amount of chakra, nearly exploding the gun barrel because of its size. She pulled the trigger releasing the compressed projectile of chakra at Han's helmeted head.

The chakra bullet shattered his helmet and caused him to lose balance on his branch. But before he could fall off, he reached out and wrapped his hands around the very same branch that he had just fallen from, and spun around, landing on his feet once more. This time, his helmet was gone, revealing a sliced open cranium, with the skull cracked. Blood poured form the wound, but Kokuō was starting to heal her container. Han glared at the girl with intense fury and reached out his hand.

**"Fuuton: Daitoppa!"** Kurotsuchi and Luo looked at Han in confusion. He didn't even make any hand seals. Suddenly, a great blast of wind shot from a white horse tail swinging from behind the man, and smashed Yaseo into another tree, knocking her from the fight.

"Han! STOP THIS!" Kurotsuchi hollered out to her brother. "What has become of you…?"

"I have been betrayed enough. Especially by my own family…that is why I will kill you last Kuro-_chan_. You will watch as I tear apart the goddamn Aka-hime. Then I'll tear out you fucking throat."

"It won't be as easy as you think boy." Luo growled as he drew out his war hammer. "I am her guardian and I will protect her be it foreign or domestic."

"You're annoying." Han said. But then he flashed away in a black light and reappeared behind Luo.

"And…you're in my way!" Han punched the base of Luo's neck and sent him flying down to the ground with the rest of the team leaving Kurotsuchi to handle her crazy brother.

Kurotsuchi was already struggling to keep herself conscious, especially after the last attack she sent to her brother. And Kuyoko, the eight-tailed wolf, was still recuperating from using up almost all of her chakra as well.

"Now then, sister. Let's fight!"

Han shot forward and punched Kurotsuchi through the tree she was standing in front of. Han had managed to drill her through not one, but three trees' before she was able to retaliate. Kurotsuchi spun around and kicked Han in his already shattered jaw and rammed her fist into his bare chest. Chakra radiated off of her arm as she launched him forward and into the base of another tree.

He crashed into the ground and felt that he was stuck. But then he noticed the strange glowing object in Kurotsuchi's hand.

**"Jinton: Hakuri no jutsu!"** Kurotsuchi shot the point of the three-dimensional pyramid forward towards her brother, but before the attack could hit, Han flashed away and reappeared behind Kurotsuchi. She didn't realize it in time and was kicked at the base of her spine and sent careening for another tree. She shook her head from the pain and sped through some quick hand seals and began to float before hitting the trees head on.

"You bastard!" Kurotsuchi roared. "How the fuck do you know the hiraishin!?"

"You can thank Tetsui for that…well before he became a greedy bitch and betrayed me." Han laughed. "Once I'm done with the rest of you, I'm going to slaughter the Okano's and rape myself a girl name Okano Hatomi."

"You're sick!" Kurotsuchi growled. She sent off another blast of jinton attacks, but Han once again vanished.

Kurotsuchi spun around to see where he was, but just as she turned around, Han reappeared right beside her and kneed her back. Kuro lost her concentration of her jutsu and stayed afloat for a few seconds in front of Han. Her elder brother sneered at the woman and brought his hand down in a heavy chop, forcing her down into the ground below.

* * *

**A/N: You should listen to Experienced Many Battles OST from this point on!**

* * *

"K-Kuro-Nee…chan…" Kaede struggled to get up, but still felt her chakra returning and the power of Kurama helping the girl to her feet. Already Luo, Recca and Yaseo were on their feet trying to wake Shikei up. Up above the sky, Han stayed afloat with his ever condescending look marring his face. Han growled and sped through a few hand seals of his own and held out his hands.

"H-He couldn't ha-have…" Kurotsuchi struggled to get up from her position. "H-He learned J-Jinton from Hatomi…?!"

"No…" Kaede looked up to see Han with a cylinder in his hands glowing with a malevolent light just before it shot off.

"KAEDE!" Kurotsuchi cried out in fear for her life.

"Kurotsuchi!" Kaede dashed ahead just in time with a three pronged kunai and sped through hand seals.

"Take this you bastard!" Kaede finished her seals and held the kunai stable as it floated in mid-air in front of her hands. The jinton attack came close, but before it could do any damage, a massive wall of seals and seal matrixes spread from the kunai and wrapped around the main attack of the jinton blast and sucked in the attack.

"You bitch!" Han roared once more. This time, all five tails formed behind him as he formed a bijuudama in his hands.

"Everyone go!" Kaede hurled her kunai up towards Han.

Han simply laughed and moved aside to dodged the kunai taking no care of the projectile coming his way. Little did he know, the kunai stopped in mid-air, just outside of his peripheral vision and hidden by one of his tails. Kaede went through another set of hand seals and spoke the simple word 'Kai'. The kunai exploded open and shot out the jinton attack that Han had recently sent at her. The attack shot through Han and caused his flight to malfunction and his chakra to fluctuate, breaking his flight.

"Kuro-chan." Kaede whimpered in pain. "Go with the others back to Tsuchi no Kuni."

"W-What?!" Kurotsuchi asked with tears in her eyes. "What about you?!"

"I am the only one that can stop Han…" Kaede hunched over to take a deep breath.

**'Kit…you're getting weaker and weaker…maybe we should fight another day…' **Kurama spoke from within Kaede's mindscape. **'Maybe going with them to Tsuchi no Kuni to regroup isn't such a bad idea.'**

'As much as I'd love that choice, it is a choice I don't have.' Kaede replied. 'I've put off his death long enough. Just imagine the kind of chaos that he'd bring out to everyone if we don't stop him here.'

**'I figured as much Kaede-chan.'** Kurama sighed, but replaced his frown with a small smile. **'Your mother taught you well…'**

"Kaede. You don't have to go this far-"

"But I do Kuro-nee!" Kaede shouted. "As much as I'd want to go home to Naruto-nii and my baby brother and sister, and father, I highly doubt that I would be able to live with myself if you gave your life for something that I was already willing to do!"

"Then let us regroup in Tsuchi no kuni!" Kurotsuchi adamantly replied "None of us have to die!"

"The only way to stop him is with a specific fuinjutsu devised to stop rampaging jinchuriki." Kaede said. "My clan, the Uzumaki, created it to stop enemy jinchuriki from causing too much havoc on the battlefield. The only downside is that it's literally a suicide fuinjutsu. And a powerful one at that."

"Then what would you have us do?!" Kurotsuchi asked as the tears started flowing down her face. "You want us to just leave you?!"

Kaede didn't reply. The redhead simply looked towards the direction Han had fallen.

"Do you know what you are to me?" Kurotsuchi asked. "You're the sister I wish I had. You're the closest thing I've had to a friend. Hell to family! Even though we had our differences at the start, we became close, and now I don't know if I can go with you dying!"

"Kuro-nee." Kaede looked back at Kurotsuchi with tears flowing down her cheeks. Her eyes shut tightly as a pain filled foxy smile was stretched across Kaede's face. "If you die…who's going to marry Naruto-nii?"

There was a great silence that followed shortly after. Kurotsuchi collapsed onto the ground and began to weep. Kaede simply turned back around to face whatever monstrosity Han had become.

"Luo-sensei. Take her and the team out of here!" Kaede quickly ordered. "Keep them safe and watch over them…"

"Kaede!" Kurotsuchi cried out as Luo grabbed her and started hopping away with Kurotsuchi's view of Kaede blocked by Luo's large chest and arms.

There was a quick moment of silence as Kaede took a deep breath and looked off towards the sunset. The ground began to shake as trees were uprooted and dirt was dug up. Kaede took a stance and narrowed her eyes at the incoming abomination. Han was missing half of his face and half of his torso, but somehow the disgusting creature that Han had become was still alive. It seems that Kokuō was desperate to keep her container alive.

"You bitch!" Han howled like a rabid animal. "I'll fucking kill you!" He dashed forward with his nodachi drawn, but Kaede didn't move.

_Splash!_

Kaede grunted and her eyes went wide, as the feeling of getting stabbed for the first time washed over her body. Blood poured from her mouth as tears fell from her eyes. Han began to laugh. He was about to rip the nodachi from her body, but Kaede grabbed his arm and used the last of her chakra to keep Han in place. He struggled and struggled, but no luck came. She gave him a sad, teary smile and forced her seal over Han.

Seal matrixes spread over her body and onto Han's. Covering his scared head, and even the nonexistent parts of his body. Seals continued to spread, but once space on their bodies ran out, it shot to the ground beneath them and spread out in a near half a mile radius in all directions. Han started hyperventilating in fear of what was to come.

"What have you done to me?!" Han roared once more. He tried to remove his sword and arm from her grasp, but Kaede didn't let up, instead she just continued to smile.

"I love you Nii-san…I guess it's time to say hello to mother…" Kaede looked up to the heavens above to see that even kami was crying with her.

"Let me go you bitch!" Han began to cry hysterically.

**"Uzumaki Hijutsu: Ōkibo na Bakudan no Fūin…" **Kaede said it in near whisper.

"NO!" Han howled out as tears began to fall from his own face as the seals covering his body began to glow.

"Good bye Tou-san." Kaede whispered. The seals on her body glowing just as bright as Han's. "Goodbye, Imōto…Otōto…Kurotsuchi…if you have a kid…name her something cool…"

"I can't die yet!" Han screamed as he collapsed onto the ground taking Kaede with him. The seals on the ground began to glow with the same light as Han and Kaede.

_-__In Konohagakure…_

"Grrh!" Naruto collapsed out of his chair and started rolling down the steps of the throne. "NO! KAEDE!"

"Nii-san!" Mito and Arashi charged for their elder brother. "Help! HELP!"

_-__In Taki no Kuni…_

"What's that bright light?" Yaseo asked. "It must be something big if it's lighting up the horizon like that…"

"I don't know-"

**_BOOM!_**

All five members of the group were sent flying off of their trees and branches as the explosion rocked the entire country. As Kurotsuchi fell, she activated her flight jutsu and levitated to the top of her branch and stared at the majestic column of smoke rising from the distance. It was easily an entire mile wide, but the damage was unknown.

In a moment of false hope, Kurotsuchi sent off a wave of chakra to sense where Kaede was, but didn't get a signature. She tried once more but again, no signature. She didn't want to believe it, but she had no choice. Kurotsuchi limped to the trunk of the tree and collapsed against it with tears flowing down her cheeks once more.

She curled her knees up to her chest as she buried her face into her hands and wept.

_-__In Konohagakure hospital…_

"What's wrong with m-my son?" Minato asked in slight pain as he hobbled in on crutches. "What happened to him?!"

"I-I don't know Yondaime-sama!" The Uzumaki medic-nin said with a distraught voice as he bowed to the leader of the village. "He seems to have both chakras of the Kurama inside of him now…"

"What…?"

* * *

**So what did you think? Did you cry? Don't lie. I cried while writing it.**

**Kaede is dead! What will become of Luo, Shikei, Recca and Yaseo after they return with Kurotsuchi in tow to the tsuchikage? How will Kurotsuchi be received? What will Inoichi do now that Han and the Akatsuki no Tsuchi is gone? What will Naruto do when he awakens from his sudden stroke? Damn it. Why is this fanfic so sad?**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	10. Funeral Procession

**So here is the next chapter! It's just a break chapter before we get into the next arc! **

**There's lots of crying and drama bullshit in this chapter because I wasn't really in the mood for any action scenes since we've had that for the last six chapters. So in response to that is a more depressing-ish feel for this chapter instead of the normal, hit hard, jutsu throwing, hardcore battles. **

** Also, I don't write funeral scenes, so I'm sorry if it was complete shit. And sorry ahead of time for the crybabiness of the characters in this chapter. I just needed something for this chapter and that was all I could think of.**

**Another tidbit of information that I should've elaborated on, the only one of the rookies in canon that's the same age as Naruto and Kaede are Sasuke and Ino. The other rookies are as old as Mito and Arashi. Mito and Arashi by the way, are about six-seven years old, so just about newly inducted, or second year(?) academy students in canon**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Funeral Procession**

_-Three days later…_

"Kaede!" Naruto shot from his hospital bed and looked around with a confused expression drawn across his face. He felt around and realized something wasn't right. He felt heavy and felt…powerful. "Kaede…wait…"

His heart clenched up suddenly when he couldn't sense his sister's life-force anywhere. He channeled his chakra in search of Yin Kurama, but was confused to find that the fox's chakra signature was coming straight from within his body. Going into his mindscape Naruto choked on his own spit. Within the mansion within the forest of his mindscape, both chakras of Kurama were speaking to each other. Then it all hit him.

His sister is gone.

"Yin Kurama!" Naruto cried out. "What happened?!"

"**Your sister…**"

"**Kit. She…she used the Ōkibo na Bakudan no Fūin to defeat Han.**"

"W-What…?" Naruto felt tears sting in his eyes.

"**He was too powerful kit. Even with my help, Kokuō was somehow strengthening the boy.**" Yin Kurama whimpered. "**But Kaede was able to get him. And she got him good.**"

-_In Tsuchi no Kuni_

Kurotsuchi was fast asleep on the back of Luo as their small team walked through the rocky terrain of Tsuchi no Kuni. With each step, they were walking into possible enemy territory, and depending on how Kurotsuchi defends them, they might just live, even though they were allied with Okano Tetsui, a wanted criminal and rebel to the Tsuchikage.

The black haired princess laid her head into Luo's massive shoulders and stared aimlessly at the dirt below them. Her eyes were dull. The once powerful pink eyes she had were now bordering grey. She had massive eye bags and her scleras were bloodshot signifying the lack of sleep. Kurotsuchi struggled to find a comfortable position on Luo's back.

"Kurotsuchi-sama. It is not healthy for you to mope around like this." Luo advised. "Kaede-sama wouldn't want you to be like this."

"I know…" Kurotsuchi sighed once more as her heart wrenched in her chest.

For over half a year, the two girls had become the closest of friends after one scuffle with one another, and she ended up gaining a sisterly bond, only to lose it at the final stage of their path of revenge. Kurotsuchi cursed in her mind at the twisted turn of events. She hated the way how ironic everything had become. At least Kaede was able to exact her revenge, and Kurotsuchi could now return home, even though, it wasn't much of a home.

With the war going on, Kurotsuchi expected to see almost no Yamauchi present in the five villages of Iwa. Kurotsuchi worried for her little brother Roushi and how he was doing. From the last reports that he had received from spies planted throughout Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni, was that the armies of Uzu no Kuni, poured into the mainland to aid Konoha and Suna against their war in the mainland. And from that information and how well the Uzumaki were doing in combat, it was a safe guess that either Roushi had been captured or had been killed in battle.

Kurotsuchi sighed softly and released her hold on Luo and slid off of his muscled back and onto the rocky ground below. Her shinobi sandal/boots smacked with the rocks, kicking up dust and dirt. She fixed her bob haircut and checked her kunai and shuriken count. But there was also something else she had. It was a black bladed sword with an Uzumaki swirl burned into the base of the handle. It was Kaede's sword.

"Let's go. I want to get home as soon as possible." Kurotsuchi groaned. "You four will be my new Kuroi Manto since I don't know who to trust these days."

"Wise choice Kurotsuchi-sama." Luo smiled and jumped up to catch onto protruding rocks and boulders. "We will watch your back no matter what."

_-In Uzu no Kuni…_

"Seiji-sama." An Uzumaki bannerman bent down and knelt before his lord. "Our armies have successfully neutralized Kumo and Iwa's attack forces. All we need now is to secure our position on the mainland and help resupply Konoha."

"How many tons of supplies will be needed?" Seiji asked.

"At least three hundred tons of rice, meat and fish for the week." The bannerman said. "At least Iwa and Kumo have pulled out of Hi no Kuni."

"Really?" Seiji was surprised at the effect of his tactic.

"Yes sire." The bannerman replied. "The two divisions you sent over defeated Kumo and Iwa at every encounter."

"…Interesting…" Seiji leaned into his thrown with a thoughtful face. "You are dismissed."

_-In Konoha…_

"T-Tou-san…" Naruto's eyes were wide with hurt. Tears were stinging in his eyes. "Dad…Kaede…she's-"

"I know son." Minato embraced his once again, hospitalized son. "I know…there wasn't anything you could have done…"

"But…Tou-san. There's something that Yin Kurama told me before merging with Yang Kurama." Naruto said getting serious. "Kaede was able to figure out the true conspirators of the massacre."

Minato's eyes went wide. He looked to the window and nodded his head. Naruto didn't realize it, but there were at least thirty ANBU stationed just outside of the room on a rooftop. The ANBU jumped away with small trails of dust behind them. The Hokage stood up and sped through a few hand seals and set up a massive, room wide silencing seal and placed a seal on the door to make sure no one can enter. The blond Hokage sat in his seat and nodded for Naruto to continue.

"Father, he told me that the Yamanaka were the ones who devised almost the entire plan." Naruto sighed. "He told me, that from three very reliable sources, they said that Inoichi-san is the one who stabbed me in the chest. He also told me that the only clans still loyal to us are the Sarutobi and the Shimura. Father, without the Uchiha and the rest of our clan, we are going to lose our seat of power here in Konoha, and most likely get killed for something out of our hands."

"What do you propose we do son?" Minato asked. "As you probably know by now, the Grand Triumvirate is falling apart with the fall of Suna and her military against the invaders from the west. But at least Seiji is holding up against the Unabara. He even defeated Kumo and Iwa with only two divisions alone. They even defeated Roushi and saved the Kogane Kishi."

"I was wondering where Sasuke was." Naruto said. "Where are they now? Does Sasuke know what happened to Kaede? Who is going to retrieve her body?"

"The Uzumaki are looking for her right now." Minato sighed. "I can't believe that she would use that technique…anyway…what else has Yin Kurama told you?"

"Just that. I don't really know what to make of it, but whatever it is, we should prepare for anything." Naruto said. "But for what we should do, we should move quietly and gather our supporters and slowly take down the Yamanaka and the rest of their allies. But we must be careful about it, to not rouse suspicion."

"Good plan son. Now, when you are fully healed, would you like to join the front lines with the Kishi behind you?" Minato asked. "The troops on the front just need one more Morale boost and who better than the Kogane no ōji?"

"I will father." Naruto smiled. "I won't let you or Konoha down."

_-With Gaara…_

The redheaded Prince of Suna was struggling to make his way towards the resistance base in the desert. He and his division, or what was left of it, had just fled Sunagakure with almost eighty percent casualties. More than half of his shinobi, Kunoichi and samurai were dead, wounded, or dying. He himself was damaged quite badly from a strange weapon that damaged his sand armor. It made a loud explosion and with a burst of flame, sent a projectile flying faster than what his eyes could see.

The projectile was lodged in his shoulder, just where the joint rested. He had the wound patched up and Shukaku was healing him quite well, but the scar wasn't healed properly since there were no medics around. He sighed at his misfortune. The damned Sound invasion force attacked them out of nowhere and had targeted the medics of every division and regiment they came across, to render the healing and recuperation of Suna's armies almost impossible.

They have made their exodus, but it was a great struggle to trudge through the great desert especially in daylight. And with the armies of Sound constantly on their tails, it made it extremely hard for Gaara to replenish his chakra reserves, even with Shukaku healing him and fixing his chakra reserves. The redhead grunted at his thoughts and continued on his march towards the fortress to meet his sister.

_-In Kaminari no Kuni…_

"You are all sentenced to death." The man spoke with a demeaning voice. "Kill them all, and leave no survivors."

"No! We surrendered!" the Kumo jounin wailed. "No! Please! We gave you-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. A blade was lodged deeply into his throat, tearing out his trachea and Adams apple. The executioner was a man with flowing red hair and a velvet cape. The symbol on his back was a golden cloud with a golden Uzumaki swirl in the center. His name is Uzumaki Teika an Uzumaki of the Southern Isles. He tore the blade out his victim and motioned for the remaining, eighty prisoners to be executed.

Uzumaki samurai and footmen walked in and began to dig their knives and swords into their enemies. One by one, the unarmed shinobi and footmen were cut down and hacked apart by the ruthless whirlpool islanders. Their screams echoed in the desolate battlefield.

No one knew that the Uzumaki were like this. No one.

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…three weeks later…_

"Keizo-sama. We've captured a division of Tsuchi samurai and Iwa shinobi." A jounin said. "And a message from Seiji-sama has just come in from the messaging seal."

"Understood." Keizo nodded to the jounin. "You are dismissed. I'll speak with the Uzukage alone."

"Yes sir."

Once the jounin left the tent, Keizo turned and sped through a few hand seals and slammed his hands on the floor, bringing up a large matrix of seals, shooting up a chakra flame. From the flame of chakra, a silhouette began to form in the flames. Once the flames died down, it came to show a chakra image of Seiji himself standing in front of Keizo. The Uzumaki of the Eastern Isles quickly dropped to his knees and bowed to his leader.

"Seiji-sama. We have captured an entire division of infantry and shinobi. What are your orders?"

"With the situation and the danger that the Sound invasion is posing, we can't deal with any more problems than what we are already dealt with, at least until Konoha is back on her feet." Seiji said. "Kill all of them. Leave no survivors. I want them all dead. Don't even bother to bury them for that will take too much time. Once you are done defeating that division, I want you to leave and reinforce Konoha and her borders with Kan and Miki."

"Understood, Seiji-sama." And with the orders given, the connection was severed and the chakra hologram was dispelled and the seals vanished. "Hirano!"

Suddenly, an Uzumaki ran into the room. You could tell that he was an Uzumaki because of his red hair, but he wasn't an Uzumaki by law because he was a bastard. A boy birthed without the marriage of his parents. His mother wasn't even Keizo's wife. Hirano was a strong-willed shinobi and well-liked amongst his people in the Eastern Isles, and he wore the seal enclosed, Uzumaki swirl, with pride. At his side was a double edged sword with a dragon hilt.

"Give this to the jounin commander in charge of the prisoners coming in from the battle. I believe that it will be orders that they wouldn't want to miss."

_-In Konohagakure…_

Naruto walked aimlessly through the streets and was greeted happily by the populace and many of his family members that were leading the Uzumaki division helping Konoha. He was surprised at the combat prowess of the whirlpool islanders that he was so closely related to, but nevertheless he was content with the aid they were given, even if it was a tad bit late. Not too late at least, but good enough. He sighed getting the attention of his two little siblings walking with him hand in hand with his.

Mito was at his right and Arashi was at his left. Neither had heard of the news about what had happened to Kaede. Naruto and Minato just didn't know how to break the news to the two five year olds. Naruto looked to Mito and gave her a small smile and patted Arashi on his head. Then suddenly, two shadow clones grabbed Mito and Arashi from behind and placed them on their backs to carry them to the park. The park was where Mito and Arashi loved to play and it was also Kaede's favorite place, while the Hokage monument was Naruto's.

Even though Naruto, as of right now, should be in the Senju Palace, or the Hokage Palace, he chose to take the day off and have some fun with his two siblings, something that he wasn't able to do for more than half a year. The clones followed Mito and Arashi's orders and began to neigh like a horse and gallop around the street towards the park. While Naruto smiled at the scene, his mind was elsewhere.

'Damn those Yamanaka. Damn Inoichi! Damn all of them!' Naruto growled. 'Inoichi always talked about how much he loved Ino…and yet he gladly gave her up for execution! I doubt Shikaku would give up his five year old son, Shikamaru! Kami…this is all just so fucked up.'

'**I couldn't agree with you more kit.**' Kurama said. '**I sense that Kokuō is starting to reform in the northern parts of Tsuchi no Kuni towards the mountains. Also kit…**'

'Why do you trail off Kurama?' Naruto deadpanned. 'You always do that shit.'

'**Dramatic effect dimwit. Anyway…I don't think we can trust the Uzumaki either…**'

'Don't be crazy Kurama!' Naruto yelled. 'How can you even say that?!'

'**Just look at it like the Uchiha/Senju massacre.**' Kurama said. '**Inoichi gave us the help we needed for the party, and then they murder our family and friends. The Uzumaki are helping us with everything they have…who's to say that they won't want to take a step on the pedestal? I'm just saying, be wary of everyone you once thought you knew.**'

'So you're saying to become a paranoid freak?' Naruto deadpanned once more. 'That doesn't sound mentally healthy you know…'

'**You're missing the point.**' Kurama sighed. '**This is why I preferred your sister as a container; at least she was a genius.**'

'Thanks Kurama.' Naruto growled. 'You haven't said that to me for almost three years!'

'**It thought you had gained some brains in that hard head of yours.**' Kurama chided. '**I guess I was wrong.**'

'Funny.' Naruto droned. 'I hate you.'

'**Love you too kit.**' Kurama giggled before cutting off the connection between them.

Naruto shook his head and looked away towards the early morning sun as it rose into the sky above. Its illuminating light bathed him in an ethereal glow, giving his moniker, the Kogane no ōji, a literal meaning. But there was something in his heart that hurt suddenly. The thought of his dear sister, Kaede came floating into his mind. He wanted to be at the gate to welcome her home, but that all changed. Even though he didn't want to blame Kurotsuchi for Kaede's death, his emotions were telling him to.

After the first few weeks of letters were read, Naruto came across the letters from when Kaede and Kurotsuchi were becoming friends. He read and felt the genuine emotion coming from both girls and about how they felt about each other. Kurotsuchi said that she was going to do everything in her power to protect and make sure that Kaede would survive. Even though Kurama told him what had happened, he still couldn't help but blame Kurotsuchi for not being more attentive and for not trying hard enough to convince Kaede that using the seal wasn't a good idea.

Naruto grumbled to himself slightly and walked off to follow his now high-speed clones as they ran to and fro with Mito and Arashi laughing and giggling like children. The two clones were running as fast as they could and only looked like yellow streaks on the road. The civilians knew what that meant and immediately back away and started walking closer towards the stores, while the Uzumaki reinforcements tilted their heads slightly.

"What's going on? Is it an attack?" One of the Uzumaki footmen asked a civilian.

"An attack?" the civilian laughed. "Oh that is just the ōji playing with his siblings. They do that a lot."

Naruto jumped up with his clones right behind him and the still laughing Mito and Arashi on their backs, enjoying the ride towards the park. Naruto smiled softly. Their happy squeals and laughs were like music to his ears. Looking over to Mito, Naruto took a deep breath and exhaled as softly as possible and made a silent promise to make sure nothing will happen to Mito and Arashi, even if he had to give his own life to do so.

The five landed in the park to see other noble families having fun with their children, reminding Naruto of the peacefulness that Konoha can have, despite having been attacked not even a month prior, and with a war going on just outside of the walls. Naruto smiled softly at the view and had his clones play tag with Arashi and Mito while he himself read a book under his and Kaede's tree. The same one where he was called from when all of this even started.

'After all of these years…' Naruto sighed as he leaned against bark of the great Konoha Applewood trunk. 'I…can't believe that it's still here, even after the invasion…not even on blemish on this thing…it's so…beautiful.'

Naruto and Kaede first found this tree when it was a sapling in this newly formed park when they were just ten years old. They gave it water and fertilized the sapling with the help of Ino and Sasuke of course. The four grew close to the sapling as it was their first group creation. And by the time they were sixteen, the sapling had sprang up into a beautiful Applewood tree. Sasuke was even planning to propose to Kaede under this tree, just as Naruto had to Ino.

The winds blew softly throughout the village as the leaves were plucked from the branches of the tree and flittered around Naruto before flying off through the park and into the forest. A strong aroma of cherry and apples filled his nose. It made his mind calm and steady as the effects were immediate. Looking over to his right, the Sakura trees were plenty and they seemed to be glowing in the sunlight. People and couples were gawking at the beautiful trees.

'I remember my first date with Ino…' Naruto smiled at the memory but quickly thought of something else. 'I can't keep dwelling on that…Kurotsuchi though…damn it. I don't know what to even think now.'

The boy sighed in content and stared aimlessly at his little brother and little sister after giving up on trying to read his book. He snapped it shut and trailed his eyes down but couldn't help but to narrow his eyes at the person he saw. It was Nara Shikaku sitting in a bench with his wife and Shikamaru playing with Mito and Arashi in the park. The little child looked so innocent and completely unaware of his father's treachery.

Too bad Naruto didn't have any proof.

"Naruto-sama!" A chunin came running up to the prince, awaking him from his sleep against the tree. "The Uzumaki have returned! They found your sister!"

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…_

Kurotsuchi and the last of her team was only fifty miles from Iwagakure, but it felt like they still had weeks more to travel. The mountains around them looked like they were shifting. They looked like they were moving. The rocks tumbled and the shadows flickered around them, even though it was a new day and the sun was obviously up. The black-haired beauty stared up to the sky and sighed in disgust. She was in a nation that she felt that she couldn't trust anymore.

"Fuck. I need to speak to Naruto-kun…" Kurotsuchi growled. "I need to tell him what happened. I know for a fact that those Uzumaki will do something to frame us…"

"Who knows Kurotsuchi-sama?" Luo said. "But whatever happens we'll stay by your side and make sure nothing happens to you. Now then, do you want to rest for now? It's almost as if the canyon we're in is making you start to feel paranoid…"

"No need to rest Luo." Kurotsuchi gave him a small smile. "We are making good time towards Iwa. Just stay behind me and we can be within half the distance we need to be within the next four hours, that is if we don't run into any Iwa or Uzushio armies."

_-In Kaminari no Kuni…_

"Begin the annexation process of these coastal territories and villages and cities." The Uzumaki ordered.

All along the southeastern coast of Kaminari no Kuni; there was a massive invasion force of nearly two hundred Uzumaki warships, dropping off hundreds of thousands of Uzumaki infantry, shinobi and clansmen from the Northern isles. The Uzumaki clansmen of the Northern Isles wore scarlet red battle armor with the flaming Uzumaki swirl on their chests. The banner carriers of the invasion had a spear with the waving banner of the Northern Isles. The Uzumaki swirl was a great blood red color, engulfed in a bright scarlet flame.

All of the clansmen that came onto the beachhead wore the same armor, but had a regal-looking orange cloak with the flaming Uzumaki swirl in the center, strapped around their backs. There was, at best estimate, thirty Uzumaki clansmen on the battlefield at this moment, and all of them had the lava release ability that was well known in the Northern Isles. The Uzumaki even had special blades reinforced with fuinjutsu to allow them to channel their elemental kekkei genkai.

"Ah, Hiro. It's good to see that you're finally here." The Uzumaki in command said. "I was worried that you wouldn't make it."

"Oh shut it sister." Hiro pouted. "The Kaminari armada was a bit of a challenge."

"Now then, are you ready to start claiming your lands and holdings?" the Uzumaki asked her little brother and cousins standing behind. "There's a lot of land just waiting for us to annex."

"Let's see…"

_-In Kaze no Kuni…_

"Unbelievable…" Kabuto gasped and nearly choked on his tea.

The Otokage had just received a report of the Uzumaki tearing through and defeating Iwa and Kumo and Kiri within a weeks' time. Every confrontation, from what his reports told him, was a victory for the Uzumaki invasion. Kabuto growled and clenched the Kazekage desk tightly, crushing the desktop and the wooden beams. He removed the glasses from his face and placed them on the desk in disgust.

He looked out of his window and found that the people of Sunagakure have been fully oppressed and that there was no help coming to them. He smiled at his own success and patted himself on the back. Turning to face the interior of the Kazekage office, Kabuto merely smirked and walked into the center of the room and sped through a few hand seals.

**"Ninpou: Chakura Horoguramu!"** Seals shot out from his hands and built up in the center of the room.

The seals spread around each other and wrapped around forming an empty circle that had a three foot radius. Kabuto then channeled chakra into the seal, shooting up a dark purple flame that stood at almost eight feet. The Otokage waited a few moments and the fire died down to reveal a chakra version of a man dressed with an Oni samurai mask and traditional samurai armor. The armor itself had such an intricate design, with a lamellar design, with each plate tied with beautiful golden rope. But the chakra being removed its mask to reveal a mangled and marred face.

"Shogun-sama!" Kabuto bowed deeply. "The invasion of the East is going to take longer than originally thought my lord!"

"Kabuto…" The man identified as 'Shogun', growled. "You promised me more land and more resources…now what are you saying?"

"T-The…the Uzumaki have sent their armies to aid the Land of Fire." Kabuto shuddered. "They are using powerful ninjutsu and fuinjutsu attacks against the armies of Iwa and Kumo. They've managed to win every single battle they have with minimal casualties."

"Unbelievable." The shogun began to scratch his chin. "I will send in two hundred thousand samurai to aid you in the invasion. Don't fuck up. They'll be in Kaze no Kuni within the month."

And with that, the connection was cut short, and the chakra image of the Shogun dissipated and flittered away. Kabuto shivered slightly when he felt the color coming back to his face. The world seemed darker to him for some strange unforeseen reason. He stumbled to his feet and shivered unintentionally. He hobbled over to his desk and sat in the Kazekage seat and shakily, placed his glasses back onto his face.

"Commander!" Kabuto roared.

The door burst open to reveal a large, muscular man in grand samurai armor. The metal plates and scales used was blood red with a grand kabuto helmet on his head with an oni mask covering his face. A beard was on the samurai's face giving him an imposing look. At his side were two katana and a wakizashi tied to his waist with an intricately designed golden belt.

"Yes, Otokage-sama?" the samurai bowed.

"Begin the purge immediately!"

_-In Konohagakure…_

"K-Kaede…" Naruto looked at the Uzumaki who found the girl in the center of the large crater.

"We encountered an Iwa patrol searching the area and we killed them all when we found them trying to desecrate her corpse." One of the Uzumaki said. "Cousin…they tried to rip her body apart…"

"Did you…" Naruto looked at them with anger burning in his eyes.

"We did…believe me. We did." He replied. "No survivors have been allowed."

"I guess I should tell my father to get the funeral ready…"

_-A few hours later…_

The men and women attending the funeral were dressed in black kimonos and hakamas with distraught looks on their faces. Minato led the procession with a candle in his hands. Naruto was right behind him with a candle in his hands. Mito and Arashi were at Naruto's sides holding small candles. Behind them stood Tsunade and Jiraiya holding candles. Behind the two elders was the coffin holding Kaede's dead body being carried by a few chunin of Uzushio and Konoha.

It was a solemn procession with almost no sound being made. Not even a sniffle of a cry. The sky was dark and cloudy and gloomy. It was as if the heavens were debating whether or not they should cry. All heads were tilted down with everyone's eyes grey and emotionless. No one could believe it. It was almost just as bad as the Uchiha/Senju massacre if not worse. Another was dead. How many more would have to die?

They stopped at the graveyard and began the final speeches. With Minato at the beginning, began to speak with a soft and reserved tone. That was expected. The poor man lost a great number of his family members. Lost his closest friends. Lost his wife and now lost his eldest daughter. His hands clenched the side of the podium as tightly as he could so he could calm his raging emotions. Tears were threatening to fall once more. He knew that Kaede had died, hence the fact that Naruto now had the true, full form of Kurama inside of him, but to see that it was a reality, to see it face to face, made his heart break.

He felt like a failure. He felt like he had messed up as a father and a husband, and as a Hokage. He took a deep breath as he finished his speech and quietly walked off the stage and headed towards his seat. Jiraiya and Tsunade were next in line to say their speech, which lasted for quite a long while and ended with a bittersweet note. Kaede's friends came up to the podium and spoke for what seemed like an eternity of their greatest memories with the princess.

But before Naruto knew it, it was his turn to speak. Mito and Arashi had just finished saying their small, concise but still heartwarming speech. The golden prince took a shaky breath and trudged up the steps of the stage and walked behind the podium and shut his eyes to close off the world around him. Once he opened them, the tears began to fall.

Not one word was said, but the people present, hell the entire village, felt his anguish. They felt his pain. Even though many didn't understand what it was like to lose someone like that, the emotions were displayed for all to see. The prince continued to cry, but then hiccupped and sniffled.

"As many of you know…Kaede is my twin sister." Naruto began. "I miss her already. I can't let this slide though. My sister may have been my closest friend and my flesh and blood, and I know that it's bad to say anything about the dead…but Kami! Why was she so stupid?!"

"To go on revenge like this!" Naruto began to weep once more. "O-Of all the t-things! Revenge! After everything w-we've b-been t-taught! KAMI! Please…JUST GIVE ME BACK MY SISTER!"

Naruto collapsed onto the stage. Mito charged from her seat faster than her father and her brother could and quickly hugged her elder brother with tears streaming down her own face. The family stayed silent as they stared aimlessly into the sky, air or anything they could set their eyes upon. With the speeches over, they slowly and carefully, lowered Kaede's casket into the hole dug for her, before they buried the body.

With the night coming in, the funeral after service was taking place in the Senju/Hokage Palace. The people were drinking and eating food in the name of Kaede and all of those who were lost in the Battle for Konoha, as it has been dubbed. Naruto though, chose to seek solace in the solitary confinement within his room. He held his hiraishin kunai as tightly as he could. He felt anger build up from within him towards Iwa. They had already destroyed his family, but it wasn't enough. They wanted to destroy his people too.

He growled deeply. Suddenly, the hiraishin kunai began to glow and Naruto felt a sudden pull. He instantly recognized the chakra signature. It was Kurotsuchi. Naruto gripped the kunai as tightly as he could and quickly pinpointed that he position was somewhere in Tsuchi no Kuni not too far from Iwagakure. Naruto's eyes widened and his eyebrows furrowed deeply, his fingernails elongated and his whisker marks darkened.

_Flash!_

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…_

Kurotsuchi stood in relative silence as she leaned against the rock at the crest of the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain was a small encampment with Shikei and Yaseo quietly talking to one another as they stared into the fire in the center. Luo was fast asleep, and Recca was slowly drifting in and out. Kurotsuchi needed to talk to Naruto. She needed to let him know of what really happened in Taki. She couldn't live with herself if all Naruto had was the outdated information that the Uzumaki had most likely given him.

Kurotsuchi stared off into the starry night sky and began to make constellations up as she found new patterns. But there was one that she knew she'd forever remember. It was a great maple leaf formation. Within a split second and without a thought, she pointed at the maple leaf constellation.

"That will be called Kaede." Kurotsuchi giggled slightly. "I guess I should call Naruto soon…"

Kurotsuchi sped through some quick hand seals, and slammed her hand into a rock, forming a hiraishin seal. This time, it was Naruto's seal. Thanks to the help from Kaede when she was alive, Kurotsuchi was able to make hiraishin seals almost as fast as Naruto and Kaede could, but she couldn't use them for travel, only transport. She placed her hand on the seal and channeled chakra into the seal.

_Flash!_

Kurotsuchi turned to face Naruto, only to get tackled into the ground. Naruto was on top of her with a look that spelled instant death if she said anything that wasn't satisfactory. Naruto's hand was wrapped around Kurotsuchi's throat and a hiraishin kunai was held in Naruto's other hand and the blade was pressed against Kurotsuchi's cheek.

"How could you?!" Naruto roared. "You promised to make sure Kaede would live!"

Naruto tightened his grip around Kurotsuchi's throat. She struggled and tried to fight back, but there was no oxygen in her system. In a quick moment, Kurotsuchi kicked Naruto in the groin, causing the Prince to fall over on his side wailing in pain. Kuro pushed herself off the ground with pained tears stinging her cheeks. Her pink eyes were ablaze with fury.

"I know…" Kurotsuchi finally said after regaining her breath. "I know I said I would…"

"T-Then why…?" Naruto looked up at her with a deep glare, boring holes into the girls head. "Why is SHE dead instead of YOU?!"

Kurotsuchi felt a great pang in her chest at the words. Her eyes widened for only a split second, before it was replaced with a glare that matched Naruto's own. Naruto finally realized what he said though, but he was too late. The damage had been done.

"I intended to be the one die that day." Kurotsuchi said without a stutter in her voice. "I was ready to give my own life to stop my brother. I was ready, but Kaede stopped me and told me to leave. Do you know why?!"

Naruto knew he was going to regret that choice of words. He cringed at her new volume. Kurotsuchi looked away. She clenched her fists so tight, that blood was drawn from her palms. She turned back to Naruto and continued her glare.

"She was like the sister I never had. She was the family I wish I had. You think that I would have let her do this without protesting you idiot?!" Kurotsuchi shouted. "Do you know what she said to me?!"

Naruto felt his heartbeat rise in fear and regret. He stood up from the ground and stared Kurotsuchi in her beautiful pink eyes, but quickly looked away when she caught him staring.

"She wanted us to get married…"

"W-What…?" Naruto's eyes went wide with surprise.

"She truly believed that we could have been together." Kurotsuchi added. "She was even going to try and get us a secret ferry to the Uzu islands with the help of her contacts. She wanted us to be happy…but now…after what you've said to me."

"Kuro-chan-"

"Don't call me that sappy bullshit." Kurotsuchi snapped. "You obviously showed your true colors. I can see it in your eyes that you're still confused about your feelings towards me and your late wife Ino, right? Yeah. Your silence gives it away…"

"But-"

"Don't try to deny." Kuro said raising a hand. "I don't want to hear your excuses. Just go. We're officially enemies remember?"

"I…I'm sorry…" Naruto flashed away as quickly as possible.

"You have nothing to be sorry about baka…" Kurotsuchi sighed once more. Tears building up once more at the memories of Kaede.

"It's all my fault. All of it."

* * *

**When you truely think about it, most of this shit happened because of Kurotsuchi . kinda sucks if you ask me.**

** Next chapter! What will become of Naruto's and Kurotsuchi's relationship? What will happen to Luo and his young apprentices? What is Kabuto planning? What is this purge? Who is the Shogun? What lies in the west beyond the Great Desert of Kaze no Kuni? What the hell are the Uzumaki planning? What makes the Uzumaki so powerful? What are the Uzumaki doing annexing territory from the mainland? What is the Leaf Akatsuki planning? What will happen to the Uzumaki Seiji regime of the Uzu Islands? What will happen now that the Kogane no ōji and the Yogan-hime are going to the front lines? Find out next chapter!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	11. The Great War

**So here is the start of the new Arc! Yay!**

** In case you haven't noticed, the Uzumaki Clan will play a MASSIVE role in this fanfic. Since they aren't killed off, they'll have their own abilities that have been nurtured and mastered throughout the generations that this AU world of Naruto has. the Uzumaki will continue to have this massive role throughout the remainder of the fanfic(s) of the series. Yes. Series. **

**Oh and thank you guys for telling me that I double pasted the last chapter. SO embarrassing .**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...**

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Great War**

**The Fourth Great Shinobi World War Arc**

**Part I of V**

_-Three Months later…_

The Uzumaki had finally left Konohagakure and began to reinforce the two fronts that Konoha had been fighting, helping the two villages keep an iron grip on the battlefield. With Kiri held back and Kumo in full retreat, the two nations consolidated their forces for a massive invasion of Tsuchi no Kuni. With over half a million troops and shinobi of both nations, they were ready to make their move into the great Land of Earth. Throughout all of this though, they didn't leave Otogakure and their movements out of the loop. With the Shimura clan's ROOT shinobi continuously feeding information straight to Minato and Naruto, the two blonds made strategies to accommodate the troop movements.

Minato healed up well and was back in the seat of Hokage and sat in his grand throne while Naruto took up the title of Lord Commander of the Kogane Kishi. Sasuke when he heard the news of Kaede's untimely demise, he was distraught, so distraught in fact, that he unlocked the Mangekyō sharingan because of how hurt he was. Naruto was at first terrified by Sasuke's new eyes, but quickly got used to the new irides his best friend had sported. Sasuke now had a navy blue haori wrapped around his armor with the Uchiha rest on the shoulder guards. At his side was a long black chokutō katana.

Naruto was also clad in a haori. The cloak was a dark blood-red color, gifted to him by the Uzumaki in charge; his eldest Uzumaki cousin, Kan. On the back of the cloak was the Uzumaki swirl embroidered in gold and silver, with the Senju crest embroidered on top in maroon color. It waved in the wind and kept the Senju heir warm and still looking heroic. The cloak didn't hinder his golden shine and the wondrousness of his armor and being. On his back, holding the haori to his body was a great scroll. Its contents were unknown to his allies and better yet, his enemies, for Naruto wanted to keep the scroll a surprise.

On his high horse, Naruto stood at the helm of almost ten thousand men in the vanguard of the invasionary force of Tsuchi no Kuni. He looked over to the East in hopes that Kumo won't attack Hi no Kuni while most of their forces were fighting in Tsuchi no Kuni. But then a thought hit him. The Uzumaki of the Northern Isles were dealing with Kumo and Kaminari no Kuni, and taking land from them in process. If they could hold off Tsuchi no Kuni for the time being, then they would be able to allow Uzu no Kuni to completely take Kaminari.

But, with all good plans, every military operation can go awry, just like almost all do. Naruto looked up to the sun and whispered a silent prayer to Amaterasu. A soft gust blew through the empty field they were resting in and flittered through his blond locks of hair framing his face. The soft follicles tickled and rubbed against his whisker-marked face, calming him slightly. His horse buckled slightly and looked at him through the corner of its eyes. The prince leaned forward and rubbed his hand against the horse's neck.

It was imperative that the boy succeed in his initial assault because if he failed, the entire invasion has a chance of falling apart before it even truly begins. Naruto's mission was to attack and secure Okushin-jo, which has apparently, been repaired after what Kaede had done to it. The only problem with that little strategy was that Kurotsuchi was there, and from what his spies have told him, Kurotsuchi now had a new Kuroi Manto made up of strange looking foreigners with white eyes. Naruto felt nervous about facing such strange opponents, and that one Manto that wields the strange weapon on her hip.

They had to have been skilled to replace Kurotsuchi's battle-hardened veterans. Naruto shuddered at the damage that would have to commence for a victory over Okushin-jo, the most heavily fortified fortress in Tsuchi no Kuni. The title was intimidating. But Naruto only smirked at the new challenge. That just meant that it was only a job that the Kogane no ōji could do. A man of his title and stature could definitely deal with something as simple as taking a fortress. No biggie.

Already, his commanders and Kishi were making their way to stand by Naruto's side on their horses; Mounted Samurai right behind them in their elaborate armors and collections of swords and naginata. Their horses trotted slightly, kicking up dirt and loose grass with each tap of their massive hooves. Samurai armor clanked and Ashigaru could be heard shouting out at each other in excitement, while behind the infantry stood the shinobi and kunoichi of Uzu no Kuni and Hi no Kuni. The shinobi force was made up of about two thousand members from both nations while the rest were infantry and samurai. Lest not forget that shinobi were more of Special Forces than anything. The shinobi tended to get into the front lines for the thrill.

Banners were flowing throughout the land behind the golden haired prince. Banners ranging to different symbols signifying the different Lords and Clans joined in on the battle. The two most common though, was the Senju banner, being wielded by the vast army of samurai and ashigaru that the Senju clan still had, and the Uzumaki swirl being wielded by Uzumaki Kan's troops. Within a minutes wait, Naruto had rode forward and swiveled around to face his division of ten thousand men. All of them had the faces of victory, hope, anxiety, fear. But Naruto made sure to make sure that all they felt was strength. They needed it.

"My brothers and sisters!" Naruto roared out. "We will take the fight deep into Tsuchi no Kuni! We will take Okushin-jo within the week! No within three days we'll take that fortress and we'll dance on the corpses of our enemies! We are men and women of Fire and Whirlpools! Those men of Stone have murdered our people and destroyed our lands, but now it is us who will show them the true errors of their ways! We will win!"

The troops hollered in a deafening roar, nearly blowing Naruto off of his excited horse. Naruto pulled the reigns and laughed slightly at his smiling horse. He drew out his katana and turned his horse around to face the direction of the border, just a few miles away. He raised the sword high above his head, with chakra shooting off of the blade and springing off into the sky, lighting up the area in a bright golden light. The chakra compressed as it drew closer to the clouds in the stratosphere, and exploded in a mighty show of light and sound.

Naruto swung his sword down, signaling the charge.

_-In Kaminari no Kuni…_

Hiro stood in the throne room of his own personal holdfast of the region he claimed. His territory was easily one hundred miles in every direction. Already, hundreds of thousand Uzu born civilians and soldiers were moving from his former territory in the Northern Isles and into the new colony. A large set of homes had been built forming a small town in the immediate vicinity of his holdfast. The holdfast itself was a very large stone castle with very imposing walls and large pagoda towers sticking up from the back wall which bordered the ocean.

Along the coast of his land, was a large port where another village of sorts was being formed with those too lazy to move on deeper into the land to find a place to live. He smiled slightly. Just a few miles out of his territory stood his sisters own holdfast with almost twice his land under her control. She was more developed with her land and people, Hiro didn't mind. In fact, he preferred it. He wanted to make a new start for the people entrusted to him. He even wanted to make a new mainland branch of the Uzumaki clan.

His wife had already birthed him eight sons, all of which were soon coming of age, and three daughters. Hiro enjoyed the new land and new chances. Looking out towards the vast forest that was slowly getting cut down and plowed for cultivation and foundation layout, Hiro took a deep breath and sighed. Over towards the northern border of his lands stood a vast majority of his forces hunting down Kumo and Kaminari resistance forces throughout his territory. They were a great pain in his neck and a pain for his commanders.

Shaking his head, the happy Uzumaki went off to find the nearest ramen stand.

_-In Uzushiogakure…_

Seiji stared at the war table sitting in the center of his throne room. The war table was an enlarged map of the entire country of Kaminari no Kuni, with proper measurements and distance ratios. Seiji was initially surprised at the actual size of the country, quickly surmising that with all of the land that he had taken, it would only, barely equal all of the twenty thousand islands that make up the eastern islands and archipelago. But even with that calculation in mind, that territory was still not enough. Quite little in reality.

With the land lost by Kaminari and gained by Uzu, it was merely a meek consolation prize in comparison to what the Otokage is gaining in his conquests of Kaze no Kuni. Land was large in Kaminari that it frightened Seiji. Maybe his information and reports were wrong about the true fighting strength that the Land of Lightening truly had. Not only that, but he was slightly worried that the Unabara are planning something big.

Recently, since the crowning of Seiji as the new Uzukage and Lord of the Uzu Islands, the Unabara had practically disappeared off the face of the great sea and it seemed that Mizu no Kuni had dropped out of the war of the Five Kage. Not surprising to Seiji if that were the actual case, but sadly, it was not. Seiji was nervous and cursed daily, hell, even hourly, because whenever he sent in a spy, or spies to find out more on the plans of the Unabara on the other side of the ocean, they never came back. They never messaged Seiji telling him of Mizu no Kuni.

It drove him up the walls to know that he was blind to the happenings of the Unabara and the Mizukage, whom of which, he still happened to believe that it was still Unabara Yagura in command. At least with their sudden disappearance made trade and commerce skyrocket without the attacks on the trade routes. But even then, it was frustrating to realize that the mainlanders weren't much of a challenge for the Uzumaki. Seiji would have, under different circumstances, would have applauded his own strategical genius, but instead, felt that the battles had been too easy.

There was no honor in defeating an enemy that couldn't defend themselves properly. No honor whatsoever. Seiji pinched his brow and removed the golden wreath from his head and placed it softly onto the table. He looked over to his uncle Toshi and rolled his eyes when he realized that his uncle was fast asleep in his chair. In Toshi's hand was a half empty chalice and on the table was a large bottle of sake. The older man's snores were deafening. Seiji looked at the time on the large clock on the wall and face palmed when he realized that his uncle was passed out, drunk, and it was barely midday.

Seiji shook his head and swiveled on the ball of his heel and headed towards the grand chair in the far side of the room. As he sat though, there was a sudden pull to him, almost as if someone was trying to summon him. It lasted for a few seconds, but then he popped away in a blast of smoke. A split second later, he reappeared on a rocky and dead island, with no one around. He drew his katana and three clones formed around him, each one wielding a different hand seal to shoot off a different technique to defend his rear and flanks. But from the rocky cover around him, four arrows were shot off with amazing precision, killing his three clones, leaving him defenseless.

"So I did summon the Uzukage himself." A feminine voice sounded from behind the rocks. "The Great Lord of the Uzu Islands. The Grand Ruler of Uzushiogakure. Daimyo of Uzu no Kuni."

Seiji narrowed his eyes. It was as if the woman was mocking him. A woman. Seiji growled slightly and channeled his bijuu's chakra in an attempt to get a rise out of the person he was dealing with, but there was another chakra signature that seemed eerily familiar. Then it hit him. It was the chakra of the Roukubi, the sixth piece of the Juubi. This had to be only one person. And he fought her great many a time. How could he not, for she was Shunji's younger sister.

"Unabara Hiruka…" Seiji growled deeply, channeling his bijuu's chakra. "Why have you summoned me?!"

_-In Kaze no Kuni…_

The Suna resistance had just lost another battle, with Gaara struggling to keep himself from just using the entire country as a weapon and killing everything and everyone, just to end the fighting. Because his father was dead and his elder brother was nowhere to be found, Gaara was now officially the new Kazekage and leader of Suna. He looked up and glared at the unforgiving desert sun and sighed in despair.

Their forces were dwindling especially with the Otokage's newly fully militant invasion. His forces were destroying everything their feet touched. It wasn't as bad as when they first came, in fact, it was worse. Nothing lived, nothing survived, and everything only died. Villages were razed while people were torched. And there was practically nothing the Gaara could do without hurting his own people. And that wound from the strange weapon, became infected and didn't heal properly, even though Shukaku was able to remove and try to heal the wound as best as he could.

The more the resistance confronted the sound army; they would encounter huge formations of infantry wielding long barreled versions of the projectile weapon that wounded Gaara. The resistance had no idea what they were dealing with and charged in on the first thought, but once the triggers were pulled, hundreds of troops died within moments. The shinobi had never seen creations such as these and to be frank, it terrified them. The weapons didn't even use chakra, hell; the people using the weapons didn't even have chakra in their bodies.

Though, with the Sabaku family dynasty coming to an end, and the free nation of Kaze no Kuni, falling into the clutches of Oto and wherever the hell they came from, Gaara knew that the resistance stood no chance against the massive military giant that Oto was. He had to retreat and regroup in allied territory, which was everywhere east of Kawa no Kuni. Only problem was that Kawa no Kuni was infested with those white beings that Oto employed in their armies.

Thinking of those beings, sent shivers up Gaara's back. Those things could appear anywhere at any time and they were literally undetectable. Once they were gone, they were gone. The terrifying thing was that they looked, acted and even used ninjutsu like a normal human, but there were no discernible chakra coils or chakra signature coming from the beings. Not only were they fast and practically invisible, but they were numerous. Most of the ninjutsu wielding army of Oto was made up of those things.

They weren't a problem in combat though. Far from it; it's almost as if they were created for the sole purpose of being cannon fodder. They were easy to defeat but they were also able to deliver some damage of their own in return. They weren't too fast, nor were they push overs. They were just…distractions. For every hundred the resistance would defeat, a hundred more would take each beings place. Their numbers seemed to never end, and even seemed to be multiplying with each encounter and skirmish in the desert. Gaara had no idea where they were coming from, but felt that they were nothing but a curse upon the people of Wind.

_-In Kaminari no Kuni…Uzumaki colonies…_

Uzumaki Hiro was looking over financial reports and smiled at the progress he was making with the trade of lumber and steel with his neighboring sister colonies. Turning from his desk, he laid eyes upon his banner; a blood-red Uzumaki swirl with two orange lightning bolts crossing each other behind the swirl, with the lightning bolts and Uzumaki swirl engulfed in the flames of the Northern Isles. Looking down the great hall of his fortress, more of these banners were hanging from the ceiling and waved softly as a breeze rolled in from the north.

Standing from his desk, he left his loyal commanders in charge of dealing with the finances of the holdfast and walked off for the balcony. Sliding open the wooden frame and rice paper doors, it came to reveal a dark skinned woman with white hair and emerald eyes standing at the railing with a small babe in her arms. The baby had its hair split down the middle with half white and half red hair. The child was asleep in the woman's arms. Hiro fixed his spikey hair and took a deep breath before walking up to the woman and wrapping his arms around her waist as caringly as possible, as to not rouse the baby from its peaceful slumber.

"Hey there…" Hiro whispered softly into the white haired woman's ear. "I see you're enjoying our new kingdom."

"Oh I am…Hiro-kun." The woman smiled softly and kissed the redhead on his cheeks. "It's so beautiful…I always thought this nation needed to be released from the tyranny of the Soga clan in Kumogakure. It's because of them that our nation is so underdeveloped. Look at all of this! So many untapped resources ripe for extraction, but no, the Soga clan wants it all for themselves…promise me, on your honor as an Uzumaki, especially one from the Northern Isles, that you and your family will save Kaminari no Kuni!"

"I promise, Mabui-chan. I promise." Hiro smiled. "I already owe your family that much."

_-In the Uzu Islands…_

"Kami…" A woman's moans were faint over the sound of the crashing waves. "Harder!"

Her arms were wrapped around the strong body of the great Uzumaki Seiji, Uzukage of Uzushiogakure, Uzu Daimyo, Grand Lord of the Uzu Islands. But upon closer inspection, the woman herself, was Unabara Hiruka, screaming and moaning as the Uzumaki pumped into her nether regions. Their faces were as red as his hair. Their moans and cries of ecstasy sounded like music to each other's ears. Seiji had his hands pressed against a rock behind the nude form of Hiruka, as he brought his hips up and shot them down into hers.

Her large breasts jumped and shot around as he continued his actions. Feeling his climax coming, he quickly pulled out of the girl and the woman quickly shoved his cock into her mouth. Bobbing her head up and down as quickly as she could, she forced a very powerful release from the Uzumaki, showering her face in his seed. Seiji collapsed onto a rock and gasped for air, for it has been a very long time since he'd had any form of sexual intercourse. Hiruka was the exact same. Hiruka smirked at the boy and began to slowly slip and slurp the cum off of her cheeks and face, and swallowing each blob whole. Hiruka sighed in relief once all of the major blobs were off of her face. As a great wave came rushing in, the girl sped through hand seals and focused chakra into her hands, bringing the wave to a calming current that went to her face to wash it clean.

Seiji was watching the girl's strange actions with complete and undeterred attention. He tilted his head slightly and watched as she guided the water without the use of hand seals, almost as if it was an extension of her own body, though not as concentrated as ninjutsu, this style was almost, if not more, effective than ninjutsu. She moved her body with the water and the waves followed her and contorted with her movements. Seiji was actually terrified for a first.

"Don't be afraid my love…" Hiruka smiled. "I am in control, but the waves contort to my Chi…not my chakra. There's a difference you see?"

"No…I actually don't." Seiji let out a sheepish grin. "Would you mind teaching me?"

"Of course not…" Hiruka brought her arms down and the water receded back to the ocean. "But on one condition."

"Sure, what is it?" Seiji asked slipping his pants and shirt back on.

"You mustn't use it ever in combat, or even in secret. No one can know of this for now." Hiruka stated darkly. "With this new technique, anyone not that is not a shinobi can learn to use their inner chi and attack whomever, throwing the balance of power off course, and hurl the world into darkness. Ninjutsu must be held on top."

_-In Okushin-jo…_

Kurotsuchi looked over her reports from the border outposts and sighed at the unbelievable size of the invasion. She pinched her brow in surprise at how fast the Uzumaki and Senju held Konohagakure could recuperate after such a devastating blow to the triumvirate. With the loss of Sunagakure and their forces, Konoha and Uzushio were left to try and defend their weaker western territories and interests. But for some unknown reason, the Uzumaki were able to defeat her brother, and hold of Oto and their massive invasion force which seemed to want to have control of everything west of Kawa no Kuni, which includes Oni no Kuni, Kaze no Kuni, Kiba no Kuni, Kosshi no Kuni and Tsuchi no Kuni.

Already from the reports that kept flooding her desk, the armies of the west had already taken four of them, which left Tsuchi no Kuni. With the two members of the Triumvirate breathing down Iwagakure's neck from the east, how in the world were the people of Tsuchi no Kuni supposed to defend themselves against the unbelievably sized armies of the west? Kurotsuchi slammed her hands onto the desk and took a deep breath to try and calm herself down.

She needed to look at what she had in a new perspective. Even though she still loved Naruto, she needed to get her mind off of the Namikaze for a while, especially after Kaede's untimely death three months ago. She rubbed her temples to ease her raging headache. There was too much heartbreak in such a short amount of time. Kurotsuchi shook her head and left the room and looked out onto the courtyard of the fortress that Kaede had annihilated at the end of last year. The damages of the battle were still present and there were even hiraishin kunai still wedged into the walls, but were inactive and unable to be used because Kaede was dead.

She turned around and was greeted by the four new Manto under her command, and the only four under her command, since they were the only people in all of Tsuchi no Kuni that she felt that she could trust. As much as she loved her brother and mother, after what had happened with Han, she felt that she could no longer even trust her family. She had lost her trust in her father a long time ago, so she felt no need to dwell on her relationship with her father. They didn't even have a father-daughter relationship, it was more like a general talking to a subordinate. If anything, Kurotsuchi felt that she was a stranger to her father.

"Never thought I'd say this, Kurotsuchi-sama, but…I actually look…nice, in the Kuroi Manto." Luo smiled.

"I gotta say Yaseo…black suits-"

_POW!_

"Not another word baka." Yaseo huffed into her fist.

Just a few feet away, Shikei was laying on the ground with spirals in his eyes and a bruise the size of fire country on his cheek. He was mumbling incoherent words while his body twitched painfully with each passing second. Recca sighed and face palmed before kicking his brother to wake him up. Shikei shot to his feet, miraculously, free of any blemish.

"Anyway, before he tried to be an idiot, Kurotsuchi-sama." Yaseo bowed. "I want to thank you for this chance you have gifted us. We won't let you down."

"No need to be so formal Yaseo-chan." Kurotsuchi smiled softly. "Besides, I know you won't. With your weapons and your specific skill sets, you will be the greatest generation of Kuroi Manto we have ever had the pleasure of having."

Suddenly, the ground shook violently, sending Kurotsuchi to her knees, but Luo quickly shot forward and caught the girl before she hit the ground. Helping her to her feet, the four surrounded Kurotsuchi as a loud banging was heard on the room's doorway.

"Come in!" Kurotsuchi shouted. But just as the door opened, another tremor was felt and this time, everyone was sent to the ground.

"Kurotsuchi-sama!" One of her jounin shouted. "The invasion has finally made it! It's being led by the Kogane no ōji himself!"

'What?!' Kurotsuchi's eyes were as wide as plates from the information. 'He's…here?'

_-In Kaminari no Kuni…Uzumaki colonies…_

"My lord. Our troops have successfully uprooted the Kumo and Lightning rebels." One of the generals said to the Uzumaki. "It took some time, but we were able to do it."

"Understood general. I want all of those prisoners processed and I want you to convince them that they should fight on our side. Make the Soga clan look like shit. Make their claims inadequate. Make them lose their followers, one by one."

"But of course, you could always just kill them if they're too loyal to the Soga." Mabui suddenly said. "I hate the Soga and what they've done to my country. And if there's one thing that I know about the Soga clan, is that their followers are the most devout and will most likely commit suicide before you could get anywhere with them."

"I guess it's settled then?" Hiro asked. "If they don't take up our most generous offer, then kill them."

"Understood, Hiro-sama."

_-In Kumogakure…the site of the Grand Square Riot…_

The news of the failed attack on Konohagakure had reached Kumogakure and it wasn't received well, especially since they all realized that the Kogane no ōji was alive and well. They now knew that they didn't stand a chance in an all-out war with Konoha any more than do they stand up against the Uzumaki that have now taken their lands. They've protested peacefully before but the Raikage, Soga Ay, wasn't going to have any of their opinions about his choice of action and had his men eradicate the peaceful protest.

That was a month ago…

Since then, the war effort against Konoha was all but non-existent. The Soga were barely holding their own against the Uzumaki clan's amazing Hijutsu and fuinjutsu that was used in great numbers and to full potential in the battlefield. The armies of Kumo received massive casualty lists at every confrontation and siege of Uzumaki colonies.

That was three weeks ago…

But now, the people of Kumo were done with the fighting and the warmongering ways of the ruling Soga dynasty that had now, placed the entire shinobi kingdom in martial law, with shinobi and samurai patrols every day, every night. Now the only people that could leave the village were shinobi and infantry going down south to fight the Uzumaki. And 99.99% of those men and women…never come back. The protest started off as a simple protest, but Soga Darui, a distant cousin of Ay, ordered the shinobi riot police of the village to come and calm down the protests. They were met with filth being thrown at them, rocks, clubs, sticks and even kunai.

"The Soga are fakes!"

"The Soga are just tyrants who want more power!"

"How many more of our sons do we have to send to die, before the rest of our failing country realizes that the Soga aren't who they say they are?!"

"Too many lives were lost! We must end this war before the Uzumaki take our homes and our livelihood's!"

"The Uzumaki are too powerful! They've taken all of the Southern half of Kaminari no Kuni!"

"The Soga promised protection, but now we need protection from them!"

"The Soga are keeping all of the food for their armies while we, the normal civilians starve!"

"We need food!"

"We need jobs!"

"We need the Soga out!"

"Get this rabble out of here by any means necessary!"

"Run! They're attacking!"

"My son! No! My son they've killed my son!"

"Run!"

_-In Uzushiogakure…_

Seiji sighed greatly at his wonderful reign. Already, the Soga clan was losing supporters because of their loses in the war, and it wasn't even the climax yet. But as the fight with Kumo and Kaminari comes to a disheartening close, Seiji had to look farther west and back over to the east. With the Unabara building up their forces once more, Seiji couldn't risk looking weak. He couldn't risk his people getting hurt because of a war on too many fronts.

"Uncle Toshi…" Seiji asked.

"What is it nephew?" Toshi replied.

"I want you to rule in my stead for the time being." Seiji replied. "I want to lead the Uzumaki 5th fleet to combat the coming Unabara armada."

"R-Rule?" Toshi asked as he choked on his spit. "N-No…there's a reason I turned it down-"

"Please Uncle. The troops will need it when we invade the western islands of Mizu no Kuni and the Unabaran Empire." Seiji pleaded. "And I still need to have my rematch with Shunji. That asshole keeps evading me."

"W-Well…I guess I should take over for a while…" Toshi sounded unsure of himself but sighed in defeat.

"Thank you so much Uncle! Don't let me down!"

But once Seiji was out of earshot and left eh grand corridor of his hall, Toshi was left alone with an empty throne and the golden wreath worn by the Uzukage and Uzu Daimyo, Grand Ruler of the Uzu Islands. Toshi smirked to himself and walked slowly towards the throne and spun on his heels with expert practice and sat onto the grand seat and slowly slipped the crown onto his head.

"What a naïve boy…" Toshi began to laugh. His laughter echoed throughout the empty hall. Wiping a non-existent tear from his left eye he sighed softly and stared intently at the grand door just down the throne hall.

"How weak."

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…Okushin-jo, outer walls…_

"Keep moving men!" Naruto roared over the sounds of clashing blades and bashing armor. "We can't be held up at just the outer walls!"

'Hot damn…how the fuck did Kaede get past so many guards?!' Naruto thought as he weaved in between incoming swords and spears.

Sliding in between two incoming spears, Naruto kneed one of the spears, breaking the head off and grabbing the blade. He rammed the spear head into the samurai wielding it, and kicked the dead man to his comrade. But before the other samurai could react, Naruto and lodged a hiraishin kunai into the man's throat. The blond demon tore the blade from the dead samurai and charged off into the fight, tearing through as many of his enemies as he could, and using as a small amount of chakra as he could. But there was a massive blast of chakra coming from the balcony.

From the sky came five people dressed in black cloaks. One was a large bald man with a massive hammer on his back. Next to him were two identical looking boys with strange choice of weaponry, next to the black haired one, was a girl with white eyes and a strange weapon in her right hand. But at the front of the for imposing shinobi stood the most terrifying of them all. Yamauchi Kurotsuchi. In her right hand was a spiraling ball of pure lava while in her other hand was a magatama made from white hot flames.

With a flick of her wrist, the single magatama split into thirds, each one spiraling and orbiting around her body as if she were the center of the world. Kurotsuchi smirked at Naruto when she realized that he had no idea that she had another new bloodline limit. The magatama shaped flames suddenly shot off, and mummified three konoha shinobi and an Uzushio jounin. Their bodies seemed to be devoid of water and any form of moisture, scaring Naruto to the core.

Naruto looked over to his Kogane Kishi and gave them a knowing look before vanishing in a trail of gold light. Reappearing just across the courtyard and immediately combated the Lava Princess in taijutsu. His speed was unmatched as he landed at least twenty hits for every hit the girl blocked. The Kishi were surprised at the girl's skill in matching Naruto in taijutsu. But their amazement was quickly cut short when the new Kuroi Manto charged in, bashing, slashing, dicing and blasting their way through a great deal of their men.

"I'll handle the scythe kid!" Sasuke shouted before blaring off his sharingan and drawing out his chokutō.

Sasuke charged into the fight and quickly dodged a slash to his neck, and saw that Shikei was about to strike at his legs, so Sasuke, using his sharingan to its full potential, weaved around the incoming attack at the last second and rammed his leg into Shikei's back. Just the attack collided, Recca charged in with his double-edged broadsword, nearly taking Sasuke's legs in the process.

The Uchiha jumped back and activated the Mangekyō sharingan and shot off a few arrows of Amaterasu flame towards the sword wielding boy. The blasts of black flame merely bounced off of the weapon and landed on a few Iwa and Konoha shinobi, killing them in the process. Recca and Shikei stood side-by-side and got into a fighting stance in preparation to fight the last Uchiha. But before either side could charge or even get their hand seals started, Naruto and Kurotsuchi landed in the middle of the fight.

Naruto slashed for the girl's neck, but Kurotsuchi weaved around it and punched the Namikaze in his side, and jumped up to kick him in his temple. Naruto anticipated this and ducked under the attack and swung for Kurotsuchi's legs, but the girl kneed him with her free leg, connecting the attack to his nose. The blond was stumbling for a while but charged forward with a fully formed rasengan, blaring with wind release chakra. Kurotsuchi smirked and formed a few clones made from explosion release chakra, and ordered a full charge for the Namikaze.

Naruto dodged the first three and jumped over the fourth but had no choice but to use his rasengan on the final enemy. The clone was eradicated, but result was a grand explosion of red and white. Naruto shot up an earth wall at the last second to protect himself, but was blown back a few feet. Once the dust and smoke cleared up, a large magatama of white hot flame shot through the smoke and dirt and exploded just to his right. He could feel the unbelievable heat from the amazing attack. But just as it came, his rest was over as a flurry of those very same white-hot magatama came through the smoke cloud as a large barrage.

Naruto charged forward using all of his speed at his disposal without using hiraishin and practically flashed next to Kurotsuchi and sent a kick towards her face, but the girl simply melted into lava. The Kogane no ōji turned around to see Kurotsuchi speeding through hand seals.

**"Youton: Yougan Numa no jutsu!" **Kurotsuchi laughed slightly as the ground beneath Naruto began to melt and turn into a lava swamp. 'Baka Naruto-kun still falls for it…'

'Fuck! Why do I keep falling for this attack?!' Naruto threw a hiraishin kunai up into the air and flashed from the swamp of lava and reappeared in mid-air with his kunai in his hand. 'She wants to play, then I'll play. Besides…I think I'll want to see her tonight.'

**"Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku!" **Naruto took a deep breath and shoot out a massive ball of flames, enhanced with the special Uzumaki chakra residing within him. Kurotsuchi's eyes grew wide with surprise and quickly sped off to dodge the attack, but her men behind her weren't so lucky and were immediately set a light with flame.

**"Katon: Karyuu Endan no jutsu!" **Kurotsuchi finished her hand seals and shot off a massive, bubbly and highly explosive blast of flames into the sky towards the Golden Prince.

**"Suiton: Dai Suijinheki!" **Naruto shot out a massive wave of water, completely forgetting that there was a battle going on beneath him as he made a slow descent towards the ground. The water wall collided with the great blast of explosive fire, creating a thick cloud of mist to cover the entire battlefield.

Naruto landed on the ground and looked around at his forces. With a quick channel of his chakra, twenty clones were formed all around him.

"Tell everyone to get out as soon as possible." Naruto ordered his clones. "I don't want any collateral damage to be done. My fight with Kuro-the Yougan Hime will be dangerous for any bystanders."

"Hai!"

And with that the clones shot off through the cloud of steam that seemed permanent for the time being. He sent out an untraceable blast of chakra, and smiled softly when he sensed that no one was around for almost an entire mile. Damn his men move fast. And it also seemed that Kurotsuchi had the same thoughts in mind, seeing as her men had retreated from the fortress and through the ground below. He had a brisk walk through the steam and bumped into a woman in the center and smirked when he sensed her chakra.

"Kuro-chan…" Naruto whispered softly.

"Naruto-kun…" Kurotsuchi replied with a sultry voice. "Remember what I said to you…three months ago?"

"Yeah…"

"I love it when you call me Kuro-chan…" the black haired girl smiled softly. "I was just so mad…"

"Say no more…" Naruto unclipped her shoulder pads as she began to work on his waist belt.

"Let's relieve ourselves real quick before we get back to our fight."

"Oh that feels good…"

_-In Konohagakure…_

"Inoichi…" Shikaku said. "How are our spies doing?"

"I just received from troubling information…" Inoichi replied. "About the Kogane no ōji…"

"What do you mean?" Shikaku asked.

"It's probably nothing, but I want more spies following the prince." Inoichi shook his head. "With Han gone and the Tsuchi no Kuni Akatsuki crumbled with the defection of the Okano's and the destruction of the Manabu and the Uemura…our numbers are dwindling to just our clans here in Konoha…"

"We need allies." Hizashi spoke.

"I agree with my brother." Hiashi added. "I know a few people who might be willing to help us from Kawa…"

"How so?" Inoichi asked.

"They have a secret weapon." The white-eyed clan head said.

"Secret weapon pray-tell?" Inoichi asked.

"They call it the Zetsu."

"How much and how long?" Inoichi asked.

"They said for a minimum of a million clones…two million ryo. It would also take about three years."

"Serviceable…" Inoichi smirked wildly. "I want two million…we're taking the world by storm boys! And nothing is going to stop us! Not even the fucking Senju."

_-In Kaminari no Kuni…the Uzumaki colonies…_

"I see that you're struggling in keeping your hold on your territories." The man said from behind a cloud of thick smoke. "I just wanna say, I can supply you with a special force of soldiers bred specifically for being an army."

"Go on." Hiro motion for the interesting stranger to continue.

"Bring them in." The man called out.

Suddenly, the doors opened and in came six different people. All of them were dressed in the same clothing as Hiro's troops. Brown flak jackets, black shinobi pants, blood red Uzumaki swirl on the shoulders and on the back, the emblem of his land. The Uzumaki swirl with two intersecting lightning bolts over a grand, five point flame. The being's skin was white, pale-white to be exact, and they all had yellow eyes and black hair.

"What in the world…?"

"They are what we call Zetsu." The man said with a smile. "They may not be entirely smart, nor talented, but their cheap, expendable and numerous."

"What are their skills? What can they do?" Hiro asked.

"They have literal photographic memory. They are the perfect scouts, they can even use ninjutsu." The man said. "Tell them what element to use and they'll use it. But they can only use one element, so choose wisely. You can also train them in the arts of Taijutsu and Kenjutsu. As I said, they start off pretty dumb, but they learn from their battlefield experience."

"Hmm…how much?" Hiro asked.

"The minimum is one million clones." The man suddenly said. "Now, now. Before you get to any assumptions, there were a few tidbits of information I forgot to mention."

"Go on."

"Well for starters, they don't eat, sleep, or take breaks." The man said getting Hiro's attention. "They won't question your orders. Ever. And, another added boon, they all come with the standard gear of your territory depending on their specific job descriptions that you give them, so less work for you."

"How much for them?" Hiro said after a long silence.

"Now we're talking."

_-In the Grand Eastern Sea…_

"Hiruka…Shunji…" Seiji narrowed his eyes. "It seems that I'm all alone…"

"I don't think so little brother!" A large man dropped down next to Seiji.

He had a great mane of red and black hair flowing down the back of his head. Spikey in all directions it was. His eyes were a beautiful and very fierce violet color. His skin was a perfect shade of pale. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt with black baggy pants. Over this he wore violet colored shinobi battle-armor based directly off of his hero, Uchiha Madara. In his hands was a double bladed ninjato with three foot long blades that extended from either end of his sword handle. Behind him, a large shark-tail was protruding from his back. It had a tiger pattern on its body.

"Nii-san…" Seiji smiled brightly.

"Junichi…well…I thought you were off stealing land from the Land of Water…" Shunji chided. "What are you doing here idiot?"

"Oh. I'm just here to help my Uzukage-sama…" Junichi replied. "And he's my little brother. Like you wouldn't leave what you were doing to help protect little Hiruka. By the way, looking quite beautiful Hiruka."

"T-Thank you Junichi-san." Hiruka blushed and smiled.

"Don't thank him!" Shunji shouted at his little sister. "God you're so innocent."

"Enough talk damn it!" Seiji growled out. "Look around you, our ships are battling it out around us and we're here just talking about nothing!"

"I couldn't agree more little brother!"

And with that, the two Uzumaki charged forward with their weapons drawn. Seiji went for Hiruka while Junichi went for Shunji. Their blades clashed with one another. Sparks were flying about as their blades clenched and sliced. Seiji and Hiruka broke their clash first and backed away as quickly as possible, right before they charged in with their blades exploding with their bijuu's powers.

**"Suiton: Dai Suidangan!"** Water bullets the size of horses were shot from her mouth, slightly scaring the Uzukage.

**"Uzumaki Hijutsu: Dai Mizu Bakudan!"** Seiji shot off a grand spear of compressed and glowing water towards the Rōkubi jinchuriki.

The two attacks collided and exploded in all directions, sending Junichi and Shunji away from the fight. But the two attacks didn't stop with just exploding outwards, the explosion was so great and filled with such malevolent chakra, that the two different bijuu chakra's formed a massive whirlpool, one hundred feet in diameter, taking Seiji and Hiruka in its swirling tides.

But neither of them either noticed or cared. They simply duked it out over the eye of the whirlpool. With sparks flying in all directions as their blades clashed, they had an eerie resemblance to the Kogane no ōji and the Yougan hime. The two of them read each other's moves so perfectly with precision and accuracy. They injured each other at the same time, they blocked each other at the same time and attacked each other at the same time. It was amazing to watch.

But then, Hiruka got the upper hand because of the sole reason that the Rōkubi was a piece of the Juubi, whereas, the seven-finned dolphin-shark was just a bijuu. The unbelievably potent chakra of the giant slug bijuu, made the whirling tides of the whirlpool spin faster and more violent as the fight continued. Because of this, the ships closest to the two started to veer off course and towards the pull of the whirling tides.

Seiji was sent down into the whirlpool, but quickly stopped himself and entered his full bijuu state and transformed into his bijuu and dashed into the great waters of the ocean, swiveling around at lightning fast speeds, all the while, dodging jutsu and projectiles from the Rōkubi jinchuriki. After a few moments, Hiruka got nervous with the sudden disappearance of Seiji, but just as she let her guard down, the giant shark burst from the water and attacked her head on, sending her through the water and beneath the surface.

_-In Kaminari no Kuni…Kumogakure…three months later…_

"No more!" The man shouted. "The tyranny of the Soga ends today!"

"Yeah!" The shout reverberated through the damaged streets of the city. Shinobi and samurai were running about, retreating towards the Raikage Palace/Soga Palace.

The Building itself was situated onto the mountain face, with its grand tower overlooking the rest of the village with a malevolent eye. It's watch was terrifying and oppressive. But not anymore. The people of the village took up arms and had taken matters into their own hands. They wanted to leave the village. They were tired of being locked up within the large walls like sheep waiting to die. They were starving, while their so called 'protectors' took all of their food and rations and used it to feed themselves and their comrades.

And ever since the Grand Square Riot, Soga Ay had chosen to crack down on rebels and anyone in their right minds that thought about protesting, and punishing those that were convicted with immediate death. Bodies piled so high in the cemeteries that they started dumping bodies in the slums of the village, making the already poverty-stricken civilians with disease from the rotting bodies. It became such a problem that Soga Ay had chosen to erect large walls to close off the slums from the rest of the village.

Th area was small and crowded and filled with Ay's enemies and non-supporters. Every single day, he'd throw at least four hundred more political enemies into an area fit for only one hundred people. They all lived in filth, there was no plumbing, fresh water or even fresh food. The food they were given was leftovers from the wild parties the Soga clan would through, wasting their money and the villages money.

But the people were done with it. They were done with the corruption and the fallacies that were spat. The lies that flowed down the Soga's lips and out of their mouths. It was like the shit that flowed from their asses. Never ending. The people wanted no more of the Soga. So, within the dead of the night, many of the Soga supporters still on the free and rich side of the village, revolted and broke many of the malnourished people of the slums out and into their side of the village. The effects were immediate.

Many of the shinobi policemen and policewomen belayed their vows to the law and to the Soga clan and joined in on the revolt. The first place they hit in the chaos of the civil war, was the food stores of the Soga clan. They stampeded down the streets, trampling the guardsmen of the Soga clan and many shinobi and samurai loyal to the Soga. From the locked doors and boarded up windows of the rich folk on the street, all they saw from out of their window cracks was a wave of people made from skin and bone.

They moved fast despite the fact they have lived in cramped up spaces for nearly two months. They groaned and moaned and even looked like zombies charging down the street for food. As they charged, their determination changed the views of many shinobi guards as they came to try and stop the charging crowd. The shinobi sent to stop them, ended up turning back around and joining on the assault of the massive food stores of the Soga.

Breaking down the door using their numbers to their advantage, the people swarmed into the massive storehouse and basically ransacked the place of its dried meat, poultry, water, grains, rice and basically every food stable of Kaminari no Kuni. The people gorged on the food and tried to drown themselves in the wondrousness of clean water. As the first few groups finished, they began to take up arms and dress themselves in battle armor for the coming rebellion, which takes us to the present.

The man raised his sword high above his head and swiftly brought the blade down, signaling the start of the attack. Immediately, the forces of the rebellion shot forward and began to cut down the wounded shinobi and samurai in their way. The streets were filled with small and large skirmishes as the Soga tried their hardest to keep control of the militant rabble charging up their streets. But the rebellion didn't let up, even though their forces kept dwindling by the second.

The Raikage hadn't even come into the fight yet. He knew full well that Darui and Cee could handle the battle on their own. He merely watched the fight with a carefree eye, all the while a white haired woman named Nabui was giving him a deep throat. Albeit forced since she was merely an assistant to the Raikage, but that didn't really mean anything. Ay treated the young woman as a whore. Good thing her sister Mabui got out in time. To Ay, all of this was just part of the plan.

"And that is the end of the uprising." Ay smirked as he watched the last of the rebels get cut down by Darui and Cee.

"Not surprising at all…" Ay pushed Nabui away from him and walked towards the couch in his office. "Now then slut. Strip."

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…nighttime…three months later…_

"Kurotsuchi…" Naruto whispered as the woman laid softly into his chest. "Remind you of that wonderful time ago?"

"…Of course…except now…we get to enjoy my homeland together…" Kurotsuchi smiled softly and planted a small kiss on his bare chest. "And look, that constellation. I'm calling it Kaede."

"Fitting." Naruto laughed softly. "Looks like a maple-leaf."

"Indeed my love." Kurotsuchi leaned her head into his chest.

Neither was naked but Naruto was shirtless. They didn't feel like doing anything tonight, except for feel each other's warmth and talk to each other over nothing. But there was something that was bugging Naruto and Kurotsuchi could sense his discomfort.

"Naruto-kun…there's something that I need to tell you." Kurotsuchi sat up from his chest.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"You probably don't know this…" Kurotsuchi looked away. "But during those six months…"

"You don't need to say anything…" Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder. "It sounds painful…"

"You have no idea…" Kurotsuchi sighed. "I was pregnant…"

"…What…?"

"You were the father…but…" Kurotsuchi looked away as a small tear formed in her eyes.

"But what…?" Naruto growled menacingly.

"Jibachi…he found out…"

"…What did that fucker do to you?!" Naruto shouted.

"He forced abortion. He killed our first child…"

All was quiet between them. The crickets didn't chirp, the winds didn't rustle the grass or leaves. Hell, there wasn't even any wind. Rocks didn't tumble, animals didn't prowl. It was silence as if nature and Kami were making it so. That is until Naruto's face darkened as the chakra of Kurama started to surface.

'**That fucker will die!**' Kurama roared.

'I will happily gut him…' Naruto added.

'**Kit, take your mate, get revenge and get the fuck out of here…sound like a plan?**' Kurama asked.

'No. I still need justice to be done to the Akatsuki in Konoha for what they've done to my family…' Naruto replied. 'After that, then I'll slaughter the Kamizuru. I'll make sure that they will never harm another person again. I will be the destroyer of clans…'

"I'm going to squash myself a little bug named Jibachi one day."

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**Tell me what you think! Review it up my friends!**

** Naruto finds out about the abortion? What is the deal with Seiji and Hiruka? What is the deal with Toshi? How is the Akatsuki going to get their two million Zetsu clones for battle? How long will this war last? How long will the Soga be in control of Kumo? How far will the Uzumaki get in annexing territory from Kaminari no Kuni? Will Naruto and Kurotsuchi ever procreate again? What is the course that this war will take? Will it be for better or for worse? Find out next chapter!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	12. Falling Action

**So here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Falling Action**

**The Fourth Great Shinobi World War Arc**

**Part II of V**

_-__One Year later…_

_Dear Kaede,_

_ I know this must be a little weird, getting a letter on your grave, but I just felt that I should do this. Every anniversary of the date of your death…I just want you to know about the happenings of the war. On a good note though; Kurotsuchi and I have finally gotten back together…it's tough, but we're managing. Kami…I just miss you so much lil' sis. If you were still here…we'd already be on the other side of Uzu no Kuni territory and we'd be living another life…_

_ Well…It's been a year so far since I've joined in on the front lines, and I have to say, this war is ridiculous. Already, we've received an unbelievable amount of casualties and the armies of Tsuchi no Kuni are somehow getting reinforced after every confrontation. Not only that, but they're getting strange technology to aid their troops in battle._

_ And…what's this about you and Kuro's Kuroi Manto being friends? What in the world did you and Kurotsuchi do when you two were together?_

_ You know what. I don't want to know._

_Love,_

_Namikaze Naruto, aka, the Kogane no ōji_

_-__In Uzushiogakure…_

The grandest city in the Eastern Sea glowed in the sun's wondrous rays as it rose from the horizon. The crystal blue waters shimmered in its light. The banners flowing off the walls of Uzushio glowed. The village was breathed into life as color returned from the darkness of the night before. The massive bridge network connecting the civilian side and the Uzumaki side of the village began to fill, slowly, with life as stalls were set up, civilians and traders began to walk about.

Doors were swung open and curtains were slid apart to let in the soft, crisp smell of the ocean air. Red heads and black haired people walked about, going to work, going to buy food, going to do whatever their day consisted of. But, out on the Uzumaki side of the Village, it was a different story. In the Grand chambers of the Uzukage himself, Seiji was fast asleep with the beautiful Hiruka lying in the bed, just as spent as her Uzumaki counterpart was. Her bare body glistened in the rays pouring in through their draped lavender and maroon curtains.

The heat suddenly woke Hiruka from her sleep. Her hand shooting up to cover her eyes from the blaring rays of the sun. Her curly black hair waved down and tickled Seiji's face, rousing him from his sleep. He sat up and stretched slightly to relieve him of his tensed muscles, but immediately realized the image. Hiruka was still in bed, naked, and the new day had just begun.

"Seiji-kun…" Hiruka whispered with wide eyes. "I…we…overslept…"

"Shit!" Seiji shot from his bed and hurled her clothes at her as he himself tried to slip on his boxers and pants on as quickly as possible while putting a seal on the door to make sure no one knew what was going on in the room.

"We have to hurry!"

_-__In the Uzumaki Colonies…_

Hiro awoke from his blissful sleep with his beautiful wife, Mabui and headed off towards the feasting hall for some breakfast and maybe even some early morning sake before his wife finds out. The Uzumaki trotted softly through the wooden floors and stone halls as his troops and guards began to switch shifts and take up positions. He nodded to them as he passed by and continued on his way.

Man was he hungry. His stomach growled menacingly, almost like an endangered wolf, ready to defend itself. Some of the guards stifled a laugh, while Hiro himself burst into total laughter. He headed down the massive stairwell of the Grand Foyer and placed his bare feet on the cold tiled floor of the Grand Hall. Looking around, he eyed the various paintings that were gifted to him by the populace of his colony. Paintings of crashing waves, exploding volcanoes, elaborate samurai, even a grand tempest blaring over the mountain range just a few miles from his castle.

Taking a right towards the Feast Hall he could already smell the wondrous scent of rice and freshly cooked boar. The salty and fresh smell of smoked fish, caught early in the morning from the ocean nearby. He let the scent carry him and set him down into his throne on the far side of the hall. Already waiting for him was a large plate filled with rice, boar and fish, steaming and ready for consumption. And the greatest part of it all, there was a large Sake bottle sitting next to his meal. He picked up his chopsticks and let out a loud 'Itadakimasu' and dug into his breakfast.

But just as he began to eat his food there was a sudden shift in his clothing. Looking down he realized that Mabui had actually indeed, set this up for him and had already started to suck him off. Hiro grunted slightly and shut his eyes to hide his glazed violet irides. He placed his chopsticks down and slid them through his spikey red hair and quickly wiped the beads of sweat building on his forehead. He let out as gasp as Mabui gagged slightly.

"Best breakfast…ever…"

_-__In Tsuchi no Kuni…_

"Kuro-chan. What is it that you wanted to show me?" Naruto asked.

"It's a little something that I ran across when I was fighting some of those Uzushio guys." Kuro said with a smirk. "Minions. All of them, but they're talented minions. I'll give em' that much."

"Heh. Now go on." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Anyway. I saw that they were using fuinjutsu to make their jutsu stronger and even make themselves stronger." Kurotsuchi said. "When I was using my chakra to try and sense their chakra signatures, all I got was something fuzzy, almost as if it was a warming ocean of calm."

"…What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Naruto deadpanned.

"It means…they're not using chakra." Kuro replied. "It's something else. Something based on their life-forces…almost like a separate form of energy."

"Have you…?"

"Oh yes I have. That's what I wanted to show you." Kuro said with a small smirk. "It took me a while to realize what it was, but it turns out, it's chi. The spiritual energy that makes up chakra. Somehow, the fuinjutsu seals are separating it for those black haired shinobi and samurai of Uzushio. Through those seals they can how do I say this…'bend' the elements to their will."

"S-Sounds awesome…I always thought it was just ninjutsu…"

"You know my love…" Kuro smirked deviously. "You're too stupid at times for your own good. How can you not notice the special abilities of your own allies?"

"I never saw the need to check. They're my allies…" Naruto replied. "They're also my family."

"Well look at mine. We betrayed each other like it's a normal thing." Kurotsuchi replied with a spiteful laugh.

"Well…your father has issues and your elder brother was crazy…" Naruto replied. "I don't think that applies to mine."

"Uhuh. Redhead fetishes? Power fetishes? Female dominant fetishes? Ramen fetishes?" Kurotsuchi started numbering them off one by one. "Definitely normal."

"…I don't have a female dominant fetish!" Naruto growled.

"Oh yeah, of course you don't." Kurotsuchi pinched his cheek and tapped his face softly before backing away. "Now, do you want to see me bend the earth?"

"Hell yeah!"

Kurotsuchi nodded in response and took a deep breath, channeling her chi instead of her chakra. Building it up in her feet, she slammed her foot down onto the ground. Naruto felt it. The explosion of chi throughout the ground beneath them. Then there was a slight rumble, and then the ground shot open as a large pillar of earth shot up from the ground and rose almost twenty feet high. Naruto's jaw dropped at the sight, but when he looked over to Kurotsuchi, he found that she was hunched over, wheezing.

"Definitely not as cool as chakra."

"Shut up Naruto." Kurotsuchi deadpanned. "Now then. Let's head back to our battle."

_-__In Konohagakure…_

"What is the situation in the Tsuchi no Kuni front?" Minato asked from his throne.

"My lord, the armies of Tsuchi no Kuni have somehow gained a manpower boost, and is starting to overflow the battlefield with their newly formed army." The general in front of him said. "The Tsuchikage is leading the attack as we speak. The Yougan hime and the Kogane no ōji are battling it out near Kosumi City. As we speak, the Kogane Kishi are leading a flank attack from the east of the Capital of Tsuchi no Kuni with the help of Uzumaki Kan and Miki."

"Any information about Oto and the Land of Wind?"

"Not much. Our spies are usually uprooted from wherever we place them." The general said. "We've lost almost all eyes in the country. Not only that, but the Shimura ROOT say that Oni no Kuni has fallen to the invasion, and that the invasion is having nationwide festivals and rituals in the Oni no Kuni for unknown reasons as of yet."

"Now, tell me about the colonies and what they'll need." Minato sat back in his throne. "The Uzumaki helped us in our time of need. We are indebted to them."

"I agree my lord, but Seiji-sama hasn't asked for anything in return, simply stating that it was his duty to help his late sister's beloved. And, he wanted to help protect his favorite nieces and nephews." The general replied. "Though, I would advise you send food and supplies for the northern most colony."

"Which is?" Minato asked.

"It is ruled by Uzumaki Koji, his house sigil is the Uzumaki swirl over a stag. He is also in command of the third largest colony with a population of two hundred thousand colonists and indigenous people." The general said. "But because of the fact that they're the northernmost territory, they are the most prone to Soga attacks and Kumo invasion."

"Make preparations for the resupply immediately."

_-__In Tsuchi no Kuni…a month later…_

"Take this!" Naruto charged forward with a rasengan in his hand, exploding with wind chakra. He charged in and lunged forward, but the girl dodged and let the boy continue forward, ramming the ball of volatile wind and charka into the ground. The explosion was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. The Konoha and Uzu shinobi behind him smirked while the Iwa shinobi were shivering in their clothes.

But just as Naruto recuperated from the attack, Luo came charging in with his golden war hammer and rammed it into the ground, sending a small blast of chakra causing Naruto's gravitational field to displace, making the Golden Prince float for a few moments. Those few moments was the perfect opening for Shikei and Recca to charge in with their weapons. But just before they could get the Prince, Naruto kicked their scythes and broadsword away from their hands and rammed two large, bijuu cloak fists into their faces.

Once Naruto landed, he sensed a strange sensation of chakra heading straight for him. It was too compressed to be ninjutsu, but it was moving too fast to be a blast of chakra. Then he saw it. It was a ball about nine millimeters in diameter rocketing straight for his forehead. The ball of chakra whizzed past his head as he quickly dropped on all fours. He rolled over to the side when a caught wind of the barrage coming his way. Using the damage done to the ground as a basis for the damage that could happen to him, he quickly surmised that not getting hit was a good idea.

He jumped to his feet and hurled off a flurry of hiraishin kunai mixed with regular three pronged kunai. Shikei, Recca and Yaseo knew exactly what those kunai did and started knocking them away and trying to stop as many as they could. It was surprising to them to see that one man could throw so many shuriken and kunai at once. What they didn't realize though, was that they were knocking away untagged hiraishin kunai.

Naruto had devised a special seal that allowed the transfer of the hiraishin seal onto his targets just by having them block the incoming kunai. It was hard, but he managed to only make four working seals. One was already on Kurotsuchi since their first battle of the war, and now the other three were on her Kuroi Manto members. They were surprised when Naruto vanished and reappeared behind each one with a rasengan in his right hand.

**"RASENGAN!"** The cry was deafening as he rammed the spiraling balls of chakra into their backs, sending them into the ground in painful thuds. Naruto spun around in mid-air and landed on the ground to take on Luo.

The large man simply smiled at the prince and charged forward with surprising speed in his steps. Luo slammed the hammer into the ground, sending Naruto up into the air once more, disrupting the gravitational pull of the area. Luo bashed his staff into Naruto's gut, sending him flying into a boulder protruding from the ground.

The boy pushed himself out of the crumbled rock and found himself in between three Konoha and Uzu shinobi against twenty Iwa jounin and samurai. Naruto popped his neck and sped off towards Luo, completely blowing off the two fighting sides. His fight was with Luo and the new Kuroi Manto so he could get to Kurotsuchi and gain another win on his list. As of now, the score was 34 to 32 his way. Kurotsuchi had been losing lately and Naruto was starting to enjoy it.

Twenty-three years old and a complete badass on the field of battle. It has been two years since the loss of his mother. He finally realized it. It has also been a year since the death of his beloved sister. Shaking his head from his thoughts, they landed on a better thought. Mito and Arashi were now six-seven years old, and now his father was 38 years old, almost hitting the age where his hair starts greying out. Oh how Naruto was going to enjoy messing with his father about that.

Put putting his mind back to the battle at hand, he weaved in between another attack from Luo and kicked the large man in his chin. The Kogane no ōji switched back into his bijuu cloak and rammed his elbow into Luo's temple, stumbling the man from his stance. Naruto landed on his left leg and spun around, lodging his fist into Luo's side. Luo fell to his knee and Naruto rammed his palm into Luo's head, knocking out the largest Manto.

"You've gotten better Naruto-kun." Kurotsuchi smirked.

"I try to impress." Naruto laughed.

He jumped forward with a small spring in his step, taking him farther and farther. His fist was engulfed in chakra as he closed the distance between himself and Kurotsuchi. But, the black haired girl dodged and lodged her fist into his side and sent a side kick, colliding with his abdomen, knocking him back. Naruto back flipped a few times and landed on an overturned rock and sped through hand seals.

**"Suiton: Dai Mizu Bakufu!" **Naruto spat out a large blast of water towards Kurotsuchi, once the water made contact, the liquid exploded in a beautiful shower of water and charka, blowing Kurotsuchi back.

Utilizing the hiraishin seal on the back of Kurotsuchi's neck, Naruto vanished from sight and reappeared behind Kurotsuchi and rammed a low-powered rasengan. But, once the jutsu dug into her body, her body began to contort to the attack and began to melt, as if it were clay. Naruto's eyes widened in fear and jumped away from the body as fast as he could. The clay clone exploded in a bright light of red and white.

"Fuck…" Naruto groaned. "I love this woman!"

_-__In Uzushiogakure…three months later…_

"I believe it is time to end the war with the Unabara clan." Seiji said. "We've been fighting in this war for far too long. Too many lives have been lost, and besides, we've already gained a lot from this war."

"Why would we want to stop a war with the Unabara?" Toshi asked, slightly peeved.

"What are you trying to say Toshi?" Iwane growled slightly. "Besides, Seiji is the Uzukage and you should be respecting him as such."

"I don't need to listen to you Northerner." Toshi spat. "And don't think that-"

"Enough." Seiji sighed. "You're all bickering like children."

"My apologies." Iwane bowed to Seiji before taking his seat once again. "Please, continue Uzukage-sama."

"Thank you Iwane." Seiji nodded his head slightly. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, the Unabara have basically lost this war, there's no point in driving them off into extinction. They are the blood of the Rikudō Sennin, just as we are, just as the Soga, Senju, Uchiha, and Yamauchi. We're the most powerful clans in the world, and yet here we are bickering with each other. Let's be the first ones to end the strife."

"I agree wholeheartedly." Iwane said. "My sons and daughters have completely driven the Soga from the southern half of Kaminari no Kuni. With the Soga's constant defeats in the battlefield, we are gaining the support of the people, leaving us with no need to continue to fight the Soga clan in Kumogakure. Their forces are dwindling and defectors, deserters and refugees that hate the Soga are leaving their lands and starting a new in our colonies."

"Wonderful-"

"No." Toshi said defiantly.

"…What?" Seiji asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. I won't allow us Uzumaki to bow down to scum like the Unabara and the Soga. The Soga of all the clans…" Toshi growled. "We are Uzumaki! We're better than them-"

"Silence uncle." Seiji spoke with a firm voice. "I love the Uzumaki just as you do, but to love my people means to do what's best. And what's best is ending this war as soon as possible so we can continue on with our lives and live in peace! This war with the Unabara will eventually, only serve to weaken us! If you haven't noticed, the invasion from the west is getting out of hand and they've already spread their greedy clutches onto Oni no Kuni and Kawa no Kuni, soon enough, Tsuchi and Hi no kuni! Now, I don't ever want to hear of that kind of talk again."

"…Understood…Uzukage-sama." Toshi bowed and headed out of the room, glaring and shivering in rage.

Toshi stormed out of the room followed by Uzu ANBU that followed him specifically and no one else. The older man, once out of earshot began to scream obscenities of his choice of rejecting the crown. Oh how wanted the crown, oh how he wanted to crush the enemies of the Uzumaki under the heavy boot of the Whirlpool islanders. He wanted nothing more than the glorious war for the honor of Uzushiogakure and the formation of the Uzumaki Empire that he constantly dreamed about. The sea of Uzumaki banners flowing in the winds of the ocean and the northern seas were all that he could see. But with Seiji in command, that dream was only going to stay a dream.

He needed to come up with the perfect contingency plan that would indefinitely rid the Uzumaki throne of Seiji and his followers, especially those fire-loving lava-shitting northerners that have been taking large amounts of land from the mainland and adding it to themselves. The Uzumaki under Iwane were tough, but depended on their jutsu more than their seals or even taijutsu. With the war ending and the fights coming to a close, Toshi knew that there wasn't going to be much time left, if he wasn't able to get to the meeting beforehand.

But then a small messenger hawk perched itself onto his shoulder and handed him a note. On the cover of the note was the sigil of the Unabara clan. It was a large turtle with two sharks impaled with spears. Toshi immediately knew what it was and turned right back around and put on his old act of powerless uncle who wanted nothing more than to protect his family no matter what. Even if he went to the extremes at times. With the line being drawn and Toshi barging in, he looked at the lords of the different island formations but then looked straight and Seiji and handed the young kage the letter.

"I-It's saying that Unabara Yagura wants to make peace through political marriage." Seiji gasped. "He is willing to marry off Hiruka to me to show that he wants no problems between our too clans any longer."

_-__In Konohagakure…_

"So this is the Zetsu that we were told about…" Inoichi inspected his order of clones and gave each one an approving nod. In front of him stood an entire unit of fifty Zetsu clones, dressed in full battle armor with katana's and ninjato's at their hips. Their faces were devoid of emotion and their eyes were covered by dark lenses in the kabuto eyeholes.

They didn't speak; they didn't even seem to breathe. It was as if they were gargoyles waiting for the setting sun. Inoichi snapped his fingers and Zetsu looked up and pulled their spears closer to their bodies. The resounding rumble shook the hidden cavern that they were in. Inoichi looked over to the clan heads with him and nodded softly.

"Konoha will be ours in no time. But just to make sure…" Inoichi paused for a moment. "Send an emissary to Oni no Kuni…"

_-__In Tsuchi no Kuni…_

**"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!"** Kurotsuchi shouted from the balcony of the governor's palace of the city.

The great blast of fire shot down and burned through a few shinobi and killed a great deal of samurai and ashigaru. Men were charging back and forth, sending out arrows and jutsu towards the palace, but the intrepid defenders of Kosumi City, kept their defense standing for the last few months. The city had already lost its value after the first month and a half of fighting, but now it was just a mosh pit, just a hole of death that no one could escape until there was only one victor.

Buildings were flattened as the shinobi summons battled it out in the streets. Samurai and Ashigaru battled each other for the glory of their nations. Shinobi fought shinobi with lightning fast reflexes and skill, gutting each other before the other could get the upper hand. Naruto for instance, charged forward and slid on a long trail of blood, which made the cobblestoned road slick. As he slid across the street, he swung his blade back and forth, slashing out the legs of his enemies, one by one. Once the bloody trail ended, he shot into the air and kneed an Iwa jounin in the face, breaking the man's balance. Once Naruto landed on the ground, there was another explosion that shook the street.

Naruto turned to face the source of the blast only to be showered in the blood of his enemies and allies alike. Seeing the blood shot images into his mind from a few years back. The blood, the screams, the gore. He may not have personally known any of those that had just died, it made his heart tighten. This fight was no better than the Uchiha/Senju massacre.

The moment he snapped from his thought induced gaze, he was hit across the head with Luo's war hammer. The blond though, disappeared in a pop of smoke, only to reappear behind Luo and kick the man in the back of the neck, breaking his stance. From the right came Shikei once more with chakra exploding off of his two scythes. Naruto formed a rasengan in his hand, but Shikei narrowed his eyes as he focused on the ball of chakra, separating the chakra from the chi, causing the rasengan to dispel, leaving Naruto open for an attack.

But just before the attack could connect, Naruto vanished and reappeared behind Shikei and kicked him in his groin. He flashed away and punched Recca in his cheek knocking him out indefinitely, leaving Yaseo to deal with. She quickly drew out her pistol and began to pop chakra rounds into incoming samurai and ashigaru, using her superior shinobi agility and training, she slid underneath an Uzu Islander brute, and spun on the ball of her right knee and pulled the trigger three times, putting a bullet in the base of the brutes back, central spine and base of the neck.

A samurai swung down for her, but she kicked his chest, knocking away his katana and pulled the man towards her using chakra strings and pressed the gun barrel into the man's mouth. She shut her eyes and said a quick and quiet prayer before pulling the trigger, blowing the samurai's brains out. She spun around and reached into her kunai pouch and drew out a second pistol and charged into the greatest concentration of Konoha and Uzushio forces.

She jumped high above the mosh pit and landed in the center, all the while putting chakra bullets into her enemies and targets, with amazing accuracy and precision. An Uzu shinobi got too close, so she kicked his chest, but the man caught her leg. She shook her head and kicked up with her free leg and used her free knee to bash the man in his chin, breaking his hold over her right leg. As the shinobi fell back, she spun in mid-air and pulled the trigger, putting two chakra bullets into his eyes.

She landed on a small pile of dead bodies and huffed slightly. A small spray of blood landed onto her clothes and onto her face. A small explosion rocked the city once more, but this time, guts, intestines, severed body parts and storms of blood, rained upon her and the mosh pit, but neither fighting forces stopped to take in their surroundings. As far as they were concerned they were covered in blood. But their lives were more important than their cleanliness. Just as she was about to join the fray once more, Naruto had flashed up to her.

He was in his full bijuu cloak, with a haori of pure chakra flowing off of his back with the magatama pendants floating in a beautiful pattern around his neck and head. Small flickers of chakra came off of his body like a flame. He sent a high kick that Yaseo blocked with ease but the girl didn't take into consideration the man's speed that he was known for. Just as she caught his leg, he returned with his other leg, slipping out of her grip and bashing her temple with his foot. She stumbled, but managed to get her balance back.

Naruto was about to strike at her, but another splash of blood hit his face, blinding him for a moment because of the amount entering his violet eyes. He fell back screaming in pain as the blood seared into his sensitive eyeballs. He rubbed his eyes viciously as blood rained onto his back and bodies piled up around him. Yaseo took this moment as the perfect chance and charged for him and punched Naruto in the chest, but was surprised that the attack was redirected at her, nearly breaking her wrist in the process. Yaseo jumped back but weaved around Kurotsuchi's fire ball that was sent towards the Konoha build up.

After a few seconds of howling, Naruto finally got the blood out of his eyes and pushed himself out of the corpses formed around him and found that his men and Kurotsuchi's men were still fighting. It almost seemed as if they weren't going to end any time soon. He quickly dashed off towards the governor's palace and broke down the doors, killing the guards as soon as they came towards him. The Kuroi Manto was nowhere to be found either. Good thing all of his men were too busy fighting their own battles in the streets so they didn't follow the young prince.

Charging up the stairs and gutting whoever got in his way, the blond prince burst through the grand room that Kurotsuchi was in and was immediately received at blade point. But once the wielders of the weapons saw who he was, they lowered their defenses and quickly motioned the prince into the room and locked the doors.

"Kuro-chan." Naruto walked forward and embraced his girl and pressed his lips upon her own. "Please. Leave the city. Retreat…I don't want my men hurting you or those four. You are all going to have to survive this war if you and I are going to have a future together."

"But…Naruto-kun…what about my men, my troops?" Kurotsuchi asked with a slight crack in her voice. "They're my people too. I can't just leave them to die horrible deaths to the Uzumaki."

"I'll make sure that they won't." The prince quickly replied. "Just signal the retreat and I'll try my best to keep my men from killing your people. Now go."

"The Kogane no Ōji's made it into the fortress?!"

"He's up the stairs!"

"He's after the Princess!"

"Go now!" Kurotsuchi shouted.

Naruto nodded and vanished once more and reappeared next to his hiraishin kunai embedded in the skull of an Iwa jounin. He tore the blade from the corpse's head and charged off taking down more targets. He looked up to the governor's highest tower and watched as a specific tune was played out for the rest of the Iwa and Tsuchi forces to hear. It was the song of the retreat.

The effects were immediate as every Tsuchi samurai and ashigaru, every Iwa jounin, chunin and genin, they all dropped their weapons and high-tailed it out of the city as fast as they can. Their feet splashing in the blood soaked streets and alleyways. The wounded were using the blood drenched walls of the streets as a crutch. Men and women screamed painfully as they met painful demise at the hands of the Uzu Islanders and Konoha shinobi.

Naruto sent out a quick burst of his chakra to get a reading on anyone within a five-mile radius and sighed in relief when he sensed that Kurotsuchi and the Kuroi Manto were just leaving the five-mile marker towards Iwagakure. Naruto took a deep breath and sighed at the damage done to the city. The amount of bodies piled everywhere, the amount of casualties that they'd have to count up. Naruto was distraught with the sight, but didn't say anything and simply raised his sword in respect to those who died. Iwa or Konoha, Tsuchi or Hi. It didn't matter; they were equal when they were dead. Shinobi and samurai began to follow suit.

Their faces scared, bleeding or damaged beyond belief. Men had their arms wrapped around the necks of their friends to use them as crutches. Some were starting to get bandaged for their wounds. But there was one thing that would stick to Naruto after this fight. It was the blood.

The blood.

_-__The Uzumaki Colonies…Hiro's territory…_

"Everyone."

In the dark council room that held the lords of the Northern Isles with Iwane, the father of these lords and ladies, sitting in the head of the round, horseshoe table, with Hiro sitting at his right, Saya, Lady of the Southern territories, her sigil is an Uzumaki swirl on top of five logs with a seven point flame covering the swirl. Next to her was Honoka, Lady of the lands west of Hiro's. Her sigil is the Uzumaki swirl with a bow with its bowstring drawn back with an arrow armed right behind it. Next to Hiro on his left, was his eldest brother, Atsuo, lord of the second largest territory. His sigil is an Uzumaki swirl on top of a great bear, native to his land. Ending with Koji, Lord of the northernmost territory, with his sigil being an Uzumaki swirl on top of a stag.

"Now that we've gathered, what I'm about to say may be right or completely wrong." Iwane started. "Whatever happens, I want all of you to act accordingly and as the siblings that I raised you five to be. We are Northern Uzu Islanders! Uzumaki blood flows through our veins."

"What are you talking about father?" Honoka asked. "You are speaking with vague statements."

"I have reason to believe that Toshi is going to usurp Seiji." Iwane said, getting straight to the point. "After hearing how militant he was towards the other clans, other than the Senju, he was adamant about dominating the other clans into submission, or even into extinction."

"But…they're our distant relatives…" Koji said. "Well…extremely distant, but you get the point."

"We know Koji. Shut up." Saya mumbled before looking towards her father. "Dad. You said that whatever happens we should act accordingly. What are you expecting to happen?"

"I don't know what to expect." Iwane said. "We are fighting an already won war. It's just Iwa is being stubborn, and the Unabara are still trying to come to terms with Seiji's terms of the pact. While I know for a fact that the Unabara will agree to a cease-fire and eventual alliance, I highly doubt that that is all it'll take to end the strife and end the war on our side."

"How is the war with Iwa and Konoha?" Saya asked.

"Chaotic." Iwane said. "To describe the battlefields with one word, nightmarish."

"Really?" Atsuo asked with wide eyes.

"With both the Kogane no ōji and the Yougan-hime, which I know you five have heard of, being back on the battlefield, this time, on the front lines, they are destroying everything in their path because of the fact that the two of them are such high leveled, and high classed shinobi, with literally no one, but each other, being able to stop either of them."

"Who knew that little Naruto-chan would become so…scary." Saya giggled. Soon enough, the five siblings burst into a shouting fit over the fact of whether or not Naruto was cute or tough as a child. Iwane rubbed his temples and growled at whatever kami was insulting him.

"Just, take what I said into consideration and please. I beg of you. Don't do anything stupid like starting a civil war."

_-__In Uzushiogakure…three months later…_

Seiji sat rubbing his brows in frustration. After his revelation to make peace with the Unabara, many of his vassals and commanders deserted his army and joined up with various other groups and even the Unabara and the Soga, bolstering their forces and even having a chance of prolonging the war. Seiji wanted nothing more than peace. He wanted Hiruka to love him without having to be secretive. He wanted his people to flourish without the need to worry about enemies from the east, or the west. His Senju relatives were struggling to keep their hold on their lands, and Seiji felt that he was doing all he could. The least he could do was hold off the Soga and the Unabara for them as best as he could.

It was hard for him for the past year and a half. To balance politics and his secret love, it was a mind numbing situation. Running a hand through his spikey head of red hair, he took a deep breath and shut his violet colored eyes and sighed deeply, before looking down at the war table in front of him. At the beginning of the war the table was filled with pieces that represented the Uzumaki and their forces, but now, the table barely had a third filled. From the looks of things, his uncle Toshi was trying to keep the lords of the Uzu Islands together, but it seemed that the only ones still loyal were the Northerners and the colonies.

Gritting his teeth, he looked over to the map of the mainland and grunted at how widespread his and Naruto's forces were. Their battle lines were stretched thing with gaps and open holes in almost varying intervals. From bad to worse, the front line looked like it was going to collapse anytime soon. Seiji at first thought was to send another two or even three divisions to aid the front in Tsuchi no Kuni, but he quickly shot that down, knowing that the other Lords were most likely going to rebel, or even worse, leave and side with the Unabara to make an alliance worthless. Ultimately, the Uzukage shook his head and decided not to aid the front lines and leave the fight to Naruto and the Uzumaki present.

He stood from his seat and walked calmly through his candle-lit room and slowly poured himself a shot of sake. The small soft trickling sound entered his ears. The little splashes echoing in the dimly lit room. Seiji lifted the shot to his mouth and downed the entire shot in one go. He quickly poured himself another; and another; and another. He drank until the entire bottle was drop less; dry. He turned behind him and nodded his head at the banner of his name. The candle lights constant flicker, making the crimson and cerulean of the sigil of his clan glisten. Seeing that sigil, seeing the people that came with the name made his heart beat.

The great men and women born into the Uzumaki clan were all amazing people, greater than what most could possibly comprehend. But Seiji now felt the weight of the past Uzumaki on his shoulders. The weight was almost unbearable, impossible to bear. It was too much responsibility for the twenty-three year old to handle. For the first time since he took up the mantel as Uzukage, he felt that he made a mistake of accepting the role. He felt inadequate to rule. The voices of doubt began to play into his mind. His own family, many of his clan, had betrayed him and left his command and decided to side with his enemies.

He glared with a silent, but overbearing aura, pressing down and pressurizing the room. His killing intent was great and caused the candles to lose much of their light before being reborn once more. His face and emotions eased as he sighed in defeat. His fists rested on the table in front of him as he examined his only possibilities and actions to take. Seiji knew that his uncle wouldn't agree with what he was about to do, but Seiji grunted at the thought. The man may be his uncle, but he needed to know that Seiji was now his leader.

The Uzukage shook his head and quickly went to work, writing up the proposal to send to the Unabara. It was of high importance so he made himself a teleportation seal that could immediately send the letter to the Unabara throne room. Out of a quick bout of paranoia, he looked out the window and glared intently at the different Uzumaki and servants walking about the palace and the courtyard of the Uzukage palace. There were hundreds of thousands of people walking about and servants that could or could not be loyal to him. He trailed his eyes up and stared at the civilian side of Uzushio and narrowed his violet orbs as tightly as he could.

The civilian side was filled with commoners, of no Uzumaki or diluted Uzumaki blood. Seiji couldn't tell where their loyalties lied. None of them could be trusted in his eyes. Who knows how many Lords or Ladies have their spies amongst the rabble of the 'normal' half of Uzushio. Once more, he could feel his rule falling apart. He knew that the only way to root out the possibility of rebels and spies was to do what the Soga do…but that was out of the question. Never would Seiji do that to his people. Never. But that still didn't mean that he wouldn't be paranoid about it. He was just young kage/daimyo, and he felt that he still had more to do and finish before he stepped down. The only problem was that he didn't know who his enemies or allies were anymore.

"Kami…help me…"

_-__In Tsuchi no Kuni…_

Naruto stared at the war table in front of him and popped his neck after the newest report from the battlefield came in. With the forces at his disposal and the newly replenished ten thousand men, he felt at ease with the course of the war. Even though he felt the end of the war drawing near, he couldn't help but enjoy the fighting while it lasted. For almost two damn years they've been fighting, and half of the war, Naruto wasn't even awake to fight it. From the newest report though, it said that Roushi was on the run once more, but this time, the Kogane Kishi were the ones to defeat him.

A small smile formed on Naruto's face, but it quickly fell. Sasuke. The damned Uchiha, his best friend and brother in all but blood, had become a bigot over the course of the war. Passionate and filled with anger towards Iwa and the Yamauchi, the black-haired boy slaughtered and annihilated his enemies with his new sharingan. He was powerful in his own right and his purple Susano'o rampaging through every battlefield he came into helped seal the deal. But with each confrontation in the past year, Sasuke started degrading. Whenever he saw and Iwa shinobi, gender nor age mattered to the Uchiha, as much as it did before. The boy would cut down anyone that dared to raise a sword at him.

Naruto pinched his brow. Imagine Sasuke's reaction when he finds out that Naruto has been fucking the Lava Princess of Iwa. Naruto rested his fists onto the tabletop and started moving pieces and setting up a strategy to reallocate his forces and strength to take the next city with numbers. Even with the help of the Uzumaki and the armies of Uzushio, Naruto's ranking in skill and battle strength lied with the numbers he has, and no longer with the skill. Since the revelation of Seiji's plan to ally with the Unabara of Mizu no Kuni, many of the commanders of the Uzumaki allies and armies deserted and joined with former enemies and either died or disappeared.

Within a week of the revelation two months ago, Naruto lost a quarter of his half a million troops. Then as the month progressed, he started losing more men. Now, he was only down to a fifth of his original army. What he needed now was reinforcements. What he needed was an army. A thought burst through his head and he quickly sifted through the letters and scrolls build up on the table and found one from a delegate from Kawa no Kuni. The letter spoke of a special type of soldier, created and bred for the sole purpose of being a soldier. They were also cheap compared to the amount of money that Naruto personally had, not including his clan's coffers.

Naruto scratched his chin and began to read over the scroll, word for word, letter by letter, line by line. He sped through a few hand seals and slammed his right hand onto the ground, shooting a large seal matrix from beneath his palm which spread out and formed an all too familiar circle. From the circle, a great blast of chakra shot up and a life-sized hologram formed the silhouette of a person dressed in an elaborate kimono.

"Ah, Naruto-sama…the Kogane no ōji has summoned me." The woman spoke. "How may I serve the Golden Prince of Konoha?"

"Those soldiers I was told that Kawa no Kuni has…" Naruto said. "How long will I have to wait?"

"Depends on how much you pay…" She replied.

"I'll pay triple the normal amount." Naruto replied.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk." The woman held up her index finger. "You didn't even specify the amount you wanted."

"I want three million of those things." Naruto quickly said. "I have more than enough to pay the price. I need those troops as soon as possible. I can't win this war without them."

"Send the money via teleportation seal to coordinates 30.092, 12.482." The woman replied. "You will have your army by the end of the week my lord. I do hope they're satisfactory."

"Thank you." Naruto bowed as the hologram bowed back.

Naruto canceled the chakra flow and shut off the jutsu. The seals dulled out and sunk into the ground of the tent and vanished altogether. The blond ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh of relief. Maybe he wasn't going to fail after all. Just maybe. He spun on his heal and walked out of his tent, releasing the flap and heading towards the mess hall tent. The walk was silent except for the occasional shout and cries of defeat from his men as they played various card games, drinking games and whatnot. Finding the mess hall tent, he quietly and swiftly moved his way into the hall, grabbed his food and hurried from sight.

The walk back to his tent, which, by the way, was the largest of the entire encampment, was brisk. The wind was warm and dry, unlike the cold, yet humid of Hi no Kuni. He shivered slightly, but moved the flap of his tent to gain entrance. He walked over to an empty table and set his dinner onto the table and pulled up a seat. He tied the flap shut and sped through a few hand seals and covered the entire interior of the tent with silencing seals and other seals to make sure no one could hear inside and no one could enter without his permission.

Suddenly, just as he was about to bite into his rice balls and teriyaki chicken, there was a small surge of chakra and a flash of light burst from behind him. Naruto slowly spun around in his seat and smiled at the newcomer. Putting his chopsticks down and getting a quick drink of his water, he stood from his seat and walked over to the person in his tent. The newcomer was dressed in an extremely revealing kimono. Naruto nearly choked on his spit when he realized the girl wasn't wearing anything underneath her kimono. He could see the glistening sweat on her pale skin.

She motioned the prince over to her with a sultry grin. She took his right hand and placed it onto her left shoulder and guided him. Within a blink of an eye, Naruto had slid her right shoulder sleeve off of her body, letting her already taut and firm breasts wiggly free from their prison behind her kimono. Naruto got the message and quickly worked on removing the rest of her garments, and within a few moments, she was left, bare skinned and glistening in sweat. Her face was red with embarrassment, but she quickly shut down those thoughts and slowly walked up to Naruto, before grabbing his face and slamming her lips upon his own.

Their tongues battled for a while before they broke apart. Naruto's hand slowly slid up her bare navel and groped her right breast, causing a small gasp to leave her lips. Naruto leaned his head down and kissed her neck going for one of her pleasure spots and slid his left hand towards her legs and began to play with her drenched pussy. Naruto smirked into her neck as she wrapped her arms around his armored torso.

"We're gonna have fun tonight Kuro-chan…"

_-__Konohagakure, hidden area of the village…_

"The Shimura's ROOT is starting to get a little too close to our interests." Shikaku whispered to Inoichi. "I've caught wind of at least three ROOT agents following me yesterday."

"Just make sure that the Shimura don't find our army." Inoichi replied. "Hiashi, Hizashi. I want you two to use your clan's banks and banking chains to freeze the Shimura bank accounts and distract them for the time being."

"By the time their ROOT agents find out the true cause of their frozen money, we'll already be in control and we'll have the Shimura and the Sarutobi kicked from the five villages." Inoichi ordered.

"Tsume, I want you to send out as many of your police forces to spy and get information on the various minor clans still loyal to the Senju." Inoichi said.

"Shibi." The dirty blond Yamanaka laid eyes on one of his most ardent followers. "I want you and your clan to place bugs on every clan head not aligned with the Akatsuki. I want to know their movements and schedules; I want to know everything about them down to their waist size."

"As you order Inoichi-sama." Shibi bowed and collapsed into the ground as beetles spread out and flew towards the air vents and scatter into the air outside. The other clan heads quickly went off to do as they were ordered leaving the three oldest friends, Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza. The three sat silently and stared at the table in front of them with a blank stare. With their army of Zetsu clones hidden from view and completely unknown to everyone outside of the Akatsuki, they felt that all they needed now was for their pieces to fall into place.

All they needed was the perfect catalyst for everything to fall apart for the Senju. Just one more step. Inoichi looked to see Shikaku was starting to look over and go through all of the scenarios and the possible steps needed to secure a hold on the throne. But with the Uzumaki losing their forces to the wind and the Soga and Unabara, the Senju's most prized ally was now falling apart, despite winning every battle; the Uzumaki had lost the war. Inoichi smirked. Seiji had been too ambitious, too young, too inexperienced to run an entire island empire, but the Yamanaka had to admit, the kid had one hell of a run, and when Inoichi dances on his grave, he'll make a song about Seiji and his valiant efforts to be someone of any use. But one thing still had Inoichi worried.

The Kogane no ōji. How he was going to get rid of the Prince, he had no idea, but one thing was for certain, Naruto needed to get disposed of as soon as possible, or else, things were going to get messy and problematic for the Akatsuki in the future. Inoichi sighed and grumbled slightly at his lack of luck and made a silent prayer to Kami and looked back at the table in front of him, before finally coming up with a glorious plan. Inoichi knew about the Zetsu clones and who truly makes them.

"Shikaku. I want you to write up a letter for me. And use the best political talk that you can." Inoichi smiled deviously.

"To whom is it going to?" Shikaku asked.

"To Yakushi Kabuto, the Otokage."

* * *

**So that is the end for this chapter!**

** Next chapter, Seiji and Hiruka get married? But what is Toshi doing there in full battle armor? What is Inoichi up to? What is Naruto going to do with his army of clones? What is the catalyst? Who is the catalyst? **

**Find out next chapter!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


	13. The Red Wedding of Uzushiogakure

**For those of you that have watched Game of Thrones or have friends that watch it, or have read the books of ASoIaF, or have friends that read it, then you'll probably have a good idea of what's about to come. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Game of Thrones or ASoIaF. Those belong to their rightful owners, Masashi Kishimoto and George R.R. Martin, respectively.**

**Chapter 13: The Red Wedding of Uzushiogakure**

**The Fourth Great Shinobi World War Arc**

**Part III of V**

* * *

_-One Year later…_

_Dear Kaede,_

_ I feel like there's something that I'm missing. I feel that the conspiracy…there's more to it. Nothing is making sense. Nothing is true anymore. Kurotsuchi for the first time confronted Sasuke on the battlefield and they nearly killed each other until I stepped in and stopped Kuro from gutting Sasuke with her lava encased sword. _

_ I got a mouthful from the bastard, but I can deal with it. Kami. Kaede, he really loved you. Completely surprising when you take into account his Uchiha pride. But, Sasuke, he's changed. The longer this war drags on, the farther he degrades. He's seen too much death and not enough love. Not enough justice. Kaede…please...help me. Help us._

_ Wait for me. I'll join you and mother sooner or later… _

_ Love,_

_Namikaze Naruto, aka, the Kogane no ōji_

_-In Uzushiogakure…_

Seiji stood at the front of his balcony with a blank stare. His face slack and lacked emotion. Looking over the glowing city of his people, he felt almost nothing. It was as if the greatest city of the Eastern Sea had lost its cool. He slowly shut his eyes and let the calm ocean breeze blow past him; the soft hairs tickling his face and smooth skin. Opening them once more he laid his eyes upon the last fleet of Unabara ships in dock at the main port of Uzushiogakure. Their banners waved in the wind and mixed with those of the Uzumaki.

All across the city, Uzumaki guardsmen were patrolling the streets and keeping order. Many of the people didn't like the idea of the Unabara being in the village, but Seiji's word is word. Already, in the last three days there have been eighteen riots; each one getting bigger and bigger than the last. Uzumaki welcomed the Unabara with open arms and had escorted the head family to the palace and got them situated in the many different guest rooms and allowed the crews of the bigger and more powerful Unabara ship of the lines, a place to stay in the best inn's and hotels.

Suddenly, a pair of warm but still cool hands wrapped around Seiji's waist and gripped him tightly. He took a deep breath and sighed in delight. There was a soft breath trickling down his bare back. He slowly turned and locked eyes with his longtime lover and now, political fiancée; Hiruka.

The black haired girl smirked at the Uzumaki and ruffled his red hair softly and planted a soft kiss on his lips before resting her head in his chest. Unknowingly, the girl was tracing the multiple battle scars that were drawn all across his bare torso, many of which came from her own blade. Seiji let her be and scanned his violet eyes around the room to find something of interest to stare at for the time being.

But then, he came to a quick realization. His uncle was out of the village fighting against the Soga and some deserters. By the time Toshi would be back, the wedding would be in full swing. Seiji wondered what his uncle would think. He knew his father would be happy at least. Many of his clansmen had lost their trust in him and turned their backs on the Uzumaki patriarch. Only Iwane, Toshi and a few other Uzumaki lords were on his side, along with his entire personal army of almost fifteen thousand men. Not only that, but he had also ordered a million of those Zetsu things from Kawa no Kuni to help bolster his military just as Hiro and the colonies and Naruto had done.

"Hey…we should go and talk with the people…I don't think they should hate you anymore…"

_-In the Uzumaki Colonies…_

"Here is the army you requested." The shinobi of the village named Kawagakure no Sato said. The man was standing on a balcony with the main Uzumaki heads of Hiro's colony with Mabui and their children standing with Hiro himself.

The man had black hair and brown eyes. He wore a navy blue jounin flak jacket with four holsters on the chest for scrolls. He had metal thigh guards and wore a hitai-ate with the kanji for river. Standing at his sides was two other shinobi that looked to be chunin in rank. They wore face masks and a cerulean flak jacket with the same hitai ate.

Below, in the Grand Square of the colony, stood an unbelievable sea of glimmering white. Zetsu clones stood dressed in armor and armed with swords and spears. They were emotionless and stood at parade dress with their weapons presented. They stood tall and in units of fifty. None of them made a sound. It was breath taking.

Mabui looked from the top their balcony and gasped at the sight. It was beautiful. Almost impossible really. She looked over to Hiro and smiled softly and looked back out to the courtyard. Hiro wrapped an arm around her waist and whispered softly in her ear, telling her that they were going to save her sister. And with this army, that promise seemed as realistic as it gets. Hiro knew what he was going to do next, but first he needed his brothers and sisters to agree to get more of those clones.

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…_

Once Naruto had received his army of clones, he sent them to the front after that one week, and immediately, they were able to push back the unbelievably growing army of Tsuchi no Kuni. It was weird somewhat, to see a battlefield filled with nothing but those white beings battling it out with one another. At least they were all marked with the sigils of their allegiance. Thanks to his clones and the power of Kurama, he was able to transfer all five elemental releases to thirty percent of his entire army taking a major load off of the already dwindling amount of shinobi and element wielders in his army.

But after that week, the war had only degraded into a constant battle for who could throw the most amounts of clones at each other. Naruto only started off with three million, but by the end of the year, he ended up with almost ten million. Battle fields were piling with dead clones from both sides. Good thing they didn't rot or were made of flesh, or else those battlefields would have turned into something else entirely, probably wastelands of rotting corpses.

Now, Naruto had ordered a new type of clone that the Kawagakure scientists had devised and created that can move faster, hit harder and can use chakra for basic elemental techniques. He ordered one thousand clones to start off the next batch of reinforcements. He was slightly worried about the morale of his men since it seemed like he was replacing the battle-hardened shinobi for something worthless and soulless, bred for the purpose of dying. Already, he had another string of deserters, many of whom, he had become great friends with. It bothered him greatly, but he had a war to win, but as it continued, he felt that he was starting to lose. With each battle won, he felt that Tsuchi no Kuni was just biding their time and waiting for the right moment to pounce on him.

Not only that; but now, he and Kurotsuchi had to be extra careful when they meet. Since Sasuke and the Kogane Kishi were back, Naruto couldn't sneak out as much. On that night a year ago, Sasuke had nearly caught Naruto and Kurotsuchi in the act, but good thing Naruto flashed her away with a reverse hiraishin technique. But on Kurotsuchi's side, her brother nearly caught them in act as well.

Speaking of her brother; Roushi had begun to degrade into darkness and depression. With the first defeat at the hands of the Uzumaki, and the constant defeats at the hands of Sasuke and the Kogane Kishi, the boy felt inadequate for his role as commander, so now, he ordered as many Zetsu clones as he could and started pouring them through the land and overflowing Konoha and Uzushio positions and fortresses in multiple attempts to wash the out.

The Yonbi jinchuriki had also become extremely violent towards anyone, even his own subordinates. Kurotsuchi caught him on various occasions beating his own commanders to death for failing to follow his orders or even doing something so little as looking his way. Roushi had become extremely difficult to deal with and had started to show the same signs as Han did, making Kurotsuchi fear for her people's lives. It was bad enough dealing with one Han for half an entire year; she didn't have time to deal with another.

Naruto sat on the back of his grand horse and took a deep breath and took in the smell of scorched earth and burning flesh. He looked down and looked to see Kurotsuchi jumping around with six magatama of white hot flames spinning around her and armored in lava. His Zetsu clones didn't know fear and continued to charge at the raging woman, but were annihilated the moment they got too close with her use of Bakuton ninjutsu and Youton.

Kurotsuchi kneed a Zetsu clone in the throat, melting it's esophagus and in turn its jaw. She spun in midair and rammed her lava encased fist into the Zetsu's jaw sending it into the ground. She sped through a few hand seals and slammed her hands onto the ground, shooting up two large walls of earth, smashing an entire regiments worth of Zetsu, almost one thousand Zetsu died. Kuro quickly recuperated from the use of her jutsu and charged ahead with a blade of lava forming in her right hand and Kaede's black blade exploding with jinton chakra.

She jumped up and slashed down with the jinton blade and vaporized three Zetsu, before following up with her lava sword, melting through the beings torso. The Zetsu then exploded sending small white hot magatama in a wide arc destroying and melting more Zetsu, clearing a path for her shinobi and her own Zetsu army to pass through. But just before she could take on another clone, Naruto flashed in and clashed his blade with hers.

"Hey there beautiful." Naruto smiled softly.

"Hey yourself handsome." Kurotsuchi replied with the same smile.

But then, the two broke away and jumped back a few feet from each other. Naruto was about to attack once more until Sasuke had finally chosen to join in on the battle. Naruto felt the chakra explode and looked over to see his best friend and brother in full Susano'o form slashing, and destroying his way through the battlefield with no care for the soldiers that were on his side or not. He was fighting Luo Dao Long of the Kuroi Manto.

Luo jumped back to dodge the chakra sword formed in the Susano'o's massive hands. Once he landed though, he was immediately surrounded by Zetsu. He sighed and raised his war hammer over his head and slammed the hammer head onto the ground, shooting off a massive chakra blast, causing the gravity to displace, sending the Zetsu surrounding him, flying in all directions. He jumped forward with his three apprentice's right behind him killing as many as they could.

But Sasuke saw this and sped through a few quick hand seals and shot off a massive blast of unbelievable flame, much more powerful than what Luo could do. The flame came out like a stream and a waterfall of fire, and annihilated the rocky ground, scorching it black and turning many Zetsu clones into ash. But before the flames could hit the four Kuroi Manto, Yaseo sped through hand seals and shot out a massive wall made from her yin spears, and blocked the attack, leaving her behind her teammates as they charged forward to handle the raging Uchiha.

"This is only going to get worse…" Naruto whispered before continuing his fight with his beloved.

_-In Kaze no Kuni…_

"So, you're telling me that your seal works?" Kabuto asked the delegate.

"Yes Otokage-sama." The man bowed.

"Oh no need for formalities. Rise…"

"Yamanaka Santa." The man replied. "And yes. It will work."

"Tell me how…" Kabuto said motioning the Yamanaka towards one of the seats in front of his desk.

"Well, when our shinobi and people are nearby, we can activate the seals that immediately cause the Zetsu clones to turn on their commanders." Santa replied. "I already have many of my clansmen joined up with Naruto and his commanders. To get rid of the Kogane no ōji is of prime importance as I am sure you already know."

"What is so important about that one prince?" Kabuto asked. "There are hundreds just like him."

"But not all of them hold the strongest bijuu inside of them." Santa replied. "Not all can wield and use all five elements like it was an extension of their body. Not everyone can move faster than the speed of light without the hiraishin. He is beyond the world of men. He isn't even a shinobi anymore, but rather, a God amongst men."

"You speak highly of the man you're about to betray." Kabuto replied suspiciously. "It makes me wonder…"

"I am merely speaking about a man's accolades." Santa replied. "I does not matter who he is or his allegiance to whichever side, but if he has the skill and admirable determination, then I will forever respect that man or woman whomever it may be. I guess you don't have the same sentiment?"

"Of course not." Kabuto laughed. "I have no need to like nor to feel adoration for such people that are beneath me. You've left one thing out though, he isn't a sage. Unlike me."

"As you say Otokage-sama." Santa replied. "But now onto another note. My patriarch, Yamanaka Inoichi wants you to know that he would also like to ally himself with you once the revolution breaks out and he's in control. Already he's solidified his hold as the new Dynasty of Konohagakure."

"What's in it for me?" Kabuto asked.

"We'll import all the women you want, money, slaves." Santa began to number them off with his fingers. "Name it and we'll get it."

"I want to meet this man before we come to any actual agreements and alliances…"

_-In the Uzumaki Colonies…_

"Alright, my son." Iwane bowed and walked onto the board to get onto his ship. "I'll be leaving for Seiji's wedding. I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Be safe father…" Hiro smiled softly before waving his father off as his fleet started to raise anchor and leave the port. "And make sure to send a letter once you land."

"I will son. Don't you worry."

And with that, Iwane and his fleet began to float across the horizon. Hiro sighed and turned to face his family standing right behind him. His beautiful wife of two years stood in front of him with a bright smile while holding their four children. Behind them stood his nephews and nieces dressed in their battle armor. The sigil of his house was implanted on their breastplates. Seiji felt a small tug at his chest and walked towards his family and embraced them in a tight hug and smiled brightly.

"I don't know…" He suddenly spoke.

"What is it uncle?" One of his nephews asked.

"I feel like something is going to happen to our clan…" Hiro broke the hug and looked around at his land and out towards the horizon. "Something big is coming, and I don't think we'll be ready for it."

"Just remember what your father said." Mabui quipped. "Don't do anything rash, like starting a civil war. Specifically that."

"I know, I know…it's just a foreboding feeling is all."

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…two days later…_

"Naruto-kun…" Kurotsuchi spoke through the darkness of the former battlefield. "There's something that you need to know…"

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"I'm pregnant."

"…What?!" Naruto grabbed the girl and embraced her in a tight hug. "This is amazing!"

"How?!" Kurotsuchi pushed away. "Remember what happened last time?!"

"But this is nothing like last time." Naruto smiled and kissed her forehead with a small amount of passion added. "I'm here. We're together, and now…I'll make sure nothing will happen to either of us."

"How can you be so sure of yourself?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"I just know it." Naruto smiled. "When was the last time you've been home?"

"Two years ago…" Kurotsuchi replied meekly. "But, my father could call me back anytime he wants…wait."

"What is it?" Naruto asked with a slight rise in his volume.

"I sense someone nearby…" Kurotsuchi's eyes widened. "It's a Kamizuru spy!"

Suddenly the leaves rustled in the trees surrounding their clearing. Naruto sped through hand seals and threw a kunai that multiplied into a hailstorm of kunai that tore through the tree cover. There was a small scream of pain and a loud thud was heard. Kurotsuchi and Naruto dashed forward and found a young man wearing Kamizuru battle armor with almost ten kunai embedded in his back. Blood was pouring from his mouth as he spoke incoherent words. His eyes were glazed and almost grey rather than the normal black that the Kamizuru were known for.

His hair was black but stained with blood. His skin was tanned and his face had a few scars on his cheeks and a few more on his forehead. He smirked at the two and took a deep breath before throwing up an entire cloud of bees and wasps. Kurotsuchi's eyes widened at the sight and shot off a fireball to kill as many as she could.

"Kill them!" Kurotsuchi shouted. "If they get to Jibachi…it's over for us!"

"I know!" Naruto finished his hand seal combination. **"Katon: Gōka Messhitsu!" **The grand stream of flames shot out and engulfed much of the cloud of insects, killing a great deal of them, but because of their late reaction, at least fifty of the insects got out and were already en route towards the Kamizuru palace. Naruto looked over to see Kurotsuchi had started backing away towards a tree while holding her abdomen.

Tears began to fall down her cheeks as her eyes widened with fear. Her ragged breaths turned to hyperventilation. Her mouth began to twitch and her body began to tremble beneath the armor she wore, making it clank louder and louder. She collapsed and began to grip her head as her eyes stayed wide and emotionless. Her legs trembled and her heart was racing at the speed of light.

"No…" Kurotsuchi whispered. "Not again…please Kami…not again…"

Naruto looked down at the ground as Kurotsuchi began to weep. He clenched his fists and grits his teeth, but then the Kamizuru began to laugh. He coughed up some blood, but continued to laugh anyway, even though he was dying. Naruto looked over to the bug master and picked him up and smashed him against the bark of another tree. His right hand wrapped around the dying shinobi's neck.

"You fucking bastard!" Naruto growled channeling the chakra of Kurama to his eyes. "You goddamn shit…"

"Heh…you're fucking whore will lose another child." The man spat, spraying blood and saliva onto Naruto's face. "She will be nothing more than a whore…and you will get to watch!"

"I don't think so." Naruto channeled the chakra to his hand and the fingernails shot to a length of six inches. The nails punctured the shinobi's throat and went straight through his trachea and his esophagus. His eyes were wide with fear, but then his smile spread across his face, just before he died. Naruto threw his body over to the side and left it to rot at the base of a tree.

He quickly spun around and ran over to the still trembling Kurotsuchi and wrapped his arms around the poor girl. The Lava Princess welcomed his embrace and leaned her head into his chest and continued to weep. She wrapped her arms around Naruto and gripped his haori as tightly as possible to make sure that he wouldn't go anywhere. She screamed and wailed into his chest as her tears rained down onto his armor.

"Please…don't do this to me Kami!" Kurotsuchi screamed. "I can't go through that again…"

Naruto stayed quiet and whispered silently into Kurotsuchi's head and kissed her forehead protectively. His strong arms held her tightly and kept her close to him, to make sure she didn't feel cold. He forced chakra into her body to keep her warm. But through all of his attempts to calm her down, she still continued to cry. She whimpered softly into his neck as the tears began to slow down and disappear altogether.

"You promise that nothing will happen to us?" Kurotsuchi looked up. Pink met with violet and immediately, they felt a great explosion of emotion flow from the deepest parts of their hearts.

With an action more than words, Naruto lowered his head and kissed her with the greatest amount of passion that he'd ever kissed before. The emotions were felt. They were given an actual tangible substance. Kurotsuchi felt all of her sorrow wash away as her thoughts were. Her racing heart calmed and slowed and her hard and heavy breaths were slowed. Once they broke, she leaned forward and pressed her lips onto his once more, forcing another passion filled kiss.

"I…I don't want anything to happen to us…" Kurotsuchi whimpered. "I don't want to lose you…I don't want us to lose our baby…"

"We won't." Naruto grabbed her arms and stared into her pink orbs. "I will make you a promise of a lifetime. We won't. I will do everything in my power to make sure that we survive this. I will make sure that our baby will live."

_-In Konohagakure…_

Inoichi sat down behind a table with a glare. Shikaku and Chouza were at his sides. Shibi was next to Shikaku and Tsume was next to Chouza. But in the center in front of them, stood a beaten and bloodied Hiashi and Hizashi. They stood in tattered kimonos with scars on their faces. They were shivering with fear. Behind them stood the new version of the Zetsu clones with batons made from chakra enhanced metal.

"Now…tell me what happened." Inoichi pinched his brow. "Please tell me how the Hyuuga police and the Hyuuga bankers could fail such a simple action. Regale me and let me know how you two nearly got us found out and nearly exposed?!"

"Inoichi-sama-"

"Don't try to kiss up to me you worthless fuck!" Inoichi shouted. "Spill it!"

"The Shimura had been following us for a long time it seemed." Hizashi said. "They were more attentive to our actions that what we first though."

"How many caught you?" Inoichi asked. "How many did you two so stupidly kill?"

"Twenty Shimura clansmen and ROOT agents." Hiashi stated while looking down in fear.

"You goddamn idiots!" Inoichi pointed a hand seal at the two of them.

With a small spike of chakra, the two men were on the ground writhing in pain and gripping their heads in a sorry attempt to soothe the unbearable pain. Inoichi didn't let up, while in truth he actually enjoyed seeing the two Hyuuga screaming in pain. They were rolling on the tiled floor like sick pigs do when they find mud. Their howls echoed through the hall. Inoichi began to laugh. Then the Zetsu guards started to laugh along with him.

Because of the seals added to the new Zetsu, the new line of clones now had emotions and some form of sentience. They could speak and now convey orders and facial expressions. Most of the time though, they spoke with a neutral expression and had little to now form of caring for their brothers. But they did one thing better than before. They were better fighters and were a thousand times better than the mass produced Version I as they were called.

But then Inoichi got bored with watching the two Hyuuga scream and writhe in pain, so he canceled the jutsu and let them pick themselves up off the ground. Their faces were purple and their white Byakugan eyes were red with pain. Hiashi was breathing hard, but Hizashi was struggling to keep up with his twin brother.

"Now." Inoichi said. "Never fail me again."

"We won't Inoichi-sama…" The two bowed.

"I know you won't, but just to make sure. Hizashi step forward."

Hizashi hesitated but was pushed forward by a Zetsu clone wielding a nagamaki sword. After a split second, Hiashi and Hizashi realized what was to come. Hiashi was about to activate his Byakugan and fight his way out and to save his brother, but two Version II Zetsu clones wrapped their arms around his arms and held him back, while a fourth one slapped a repression seal onto his chest, weakening him and rendering his Byakugan useless.

"Hiashi!" Hizashi called out to his brother. "Protect Neji! Tell him that I'm sorry…"

"Now. Just to make sure Hiashi." Inoichi said. "It's no hard feelings right?"

The Zetsu raised the nagamaki over his head and brought it down onto Hizashi's neck.

_-In the Uzumaki colonies…one week later…_

"Uncle Hiro." An Uzumaki said.

She was a beautiful woman with red hair and beautiful violet eyes. Her hair was tied into a braided ponytail. She wore a white headband over her forehead with the sigil of Hiro on the front, acting like a hitai-ate. Over her battle kimono she wore a set of armor with had the same sigil on the front. As almost everyone in the clan knew, she was almost as skilled with the chakra chains that Kushina was known so well for. Many even called her the second coming of Uzumaki Kushina.

"Yes Honoka-chan?"

"A letter from Iwane-jiji." She handed the man the scroll before bowing to the man and heading out of the door.

_Dear Hiro,_

_ We made it to the homeland without any issue. No bandits or pirates, or even corsairs. We were lucky since a small storm had hit and nearly blew us off into pirate waters and desert waters. We landed in the port and were greeted with cheers and gifts from the people of the capital. We were even greeted by Unabara shinobi and clansmen. _

_ It surprised me just as much as it is sure to surprise you. But as of now, we are waiting in the clan compound for the wedding to begin. But damn that Seiji for trying to be a romantic bastard! Ha! He is spending extra time trying to make this wedding go off without a hitch and is even trying to make the colors of our two clans, Red and blue mix together without making any purple. _

_ It's been years since we of the North had stepped on the home island of Uzu no Kuni. I have to say son, it still has its wondrous splendor as it did all of those years ago. After this wedding we'll all be together once more and on the front lines fighting our traitorous brethren and the Soga from the north._

_ Your father,_

_ Uzumaki Iwane, Lord of the Northern Isles_

"I look forward to it father…" Hiro smiled and rolled up the scroll and placing it into a drawer. "Nagato!"

Hiro waited almost half an hour and in came a boy from just down the hall wearing his battle armor and an open collared kimono underneath. The inside of the kimono was a blood red color while the kimono itself was black and his armor was maroon. On his back intersecting with an 'x' formation, showed off his skill with kenjutsu. He had a small cocky smirk on his face as he flipped his hair and stared at his uncle.

"What took you so long? Your room is just down the hall." Hiro deadpanned. "You're seventeen years old! Start taking responsibility damn it!"

"Sorry uncle. I was having fun painting the wonders of the world outside of the palace!" Nagato laughed softly.

"Whatever." Hiro deadpanned once more. "Anyway. I want you to lead an attack on the southernmost territories still under control of the Soga. Take a division of one hundred thousand Zetsu clones and a few of our cousins and take as much territory while holding on to them with garrisons."

"You got it uncle!" Nagato charged for the window behind Hiro's desk and jumped through the glass and flittered down the ten story palace onto the street below and charged through the Palace grounds gathering his favorite cousins for the mission.

"What an idiot."

_-In Tsuchi no Kuni…three weeks later…_

Naruto stared at the new reinforcements from Konoha and already felt uncomfortable. In front of him was an entire regiment made up of shinobi from the same clans that were betraying his family. Yamanaka made up a great deal of the shinobi present followed by Hyuuga and then Akimichi. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the various shinobi in front of him and recognized a few of the more prominent ones and tried his hardest to hide the glare forming on his face.

Nara Ensui. Yamanaka Fu. Akimichi Torifu. Hyuuga Tokuma. Hyuuga Hoheto. Inuzuka Hana. Aburame Torune.

**"Those bastards…" **Kurama growled menacingly from within the mindscape forest. **"The Akatsuki have sent these people to get information on us most likely."**

"Definitely…" Naruto replied. "I can't trust them…but I can't turn them away."

**"Keep a close eye on them Naruto."** Kurama advised. **"Who knows what kind of shit they might pull…"**

"Agreed."

Naruto eased up and looked at the fresh batch of Konoha reinforcements and slightly at his luck or lack thereof. The Yamanaka weren't playing if they were willing to send someone like Fu to get into his army. At least his men didn't know about these clans treacheries. It would have been madness. It would have been complete madness.

Already, Naruto could feel his men losing morale and losing their trust in him as a leader. Especially the Kogane Kishi. Sasuke was starting to look at Naruto weird and began to see the Prince in a different light, almost as if he knew something about Naruto that the boy thought Sasuke didn't know. Naruto worried for his life for a while and worried for Kurotsuchi's own even more. After everything that Kurotsuchi had been though already, Naruto felt that Kami was purposely putting the girl through all of the pain just to prove an unspoken point.

Naruto sighed and put a hand to his face. He was twenty-four years old, and this war was starting to become the death of him. After snapping from his reverie, he motioned for the reinforcements to follow and he led them into the camp and told them to start setting up their tents and told them where the mess hall was. He left but was quickly stopped by Fu.

"Naruto-sama." The man said. "I was wondering where the Zetsu are."

"They're off fighting the war while the men rest from the battle earlier today." Naruto said. "You reinforcements would've been a hell of a life saver had you come here earlier. See here, all of these men are wounded in one way or another. Even I'm wounded. Now, why would you want to know where the Zetsu are?"

"No reason my Lord." Fu replied. "No reason. I was just curious since I wanted to see the army that so many nations buy and hire. I wanted to see the sea of white as they call it."

"You can see them when you join them on the battlefield tomorrow." Naruto replied. "You're all probably extremely tired, so rest up and eat before the battle tomorrow."

"As you wish my lord." Fu bowed and left the Prince to his own devices.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he sensed a great deal of negative aura flowing off of Fu. The blond prince turned around and walked off towards his tent and immediately went through to his war table and began to devise a plan to get as many of those 'reinforcements' killed as soon as possible. Naruto didn't know what they were there for, but he didn't want to find out. He wanted them out of the picture as soon as possible, maybe even set them up against Kurotsuchi. Naruto knew that none of them would survive the encounter.

But then he looked back to the map and realized that Sasuke was being unresponsive to him and was choosing to be a little bitch. Naruto grumbled at the new attitude his friend was sporting. Ever since the battle with Kurotsuchi a few months ago when he went full Susano'o and took on the Kuroi Manto, Sasuke had descended into total darkness. If anyone spoke of Iwa, good or bad, it was an invitation to get a punch to the face. Every time that Sasuke would look at Naruto, it was filled with hatred or some other form of anger.

Naruto knew that Sasuke knew something about him. Naruto knows that there is something that he was not getting. To be frank, it bothered him to no end. Sasuke was on to him. It was the only explanation. If Sasuke gets his hands on Kurotsuchi, it was going to end for the both of them. It was going to be the end for Kurotsuchi. It was going to be the end for his child. Naruto wasn't going to allow that. He made a goddamn promise, and he was intent on keeping this one. He had already failed Kurotsuchi once, he wasn't planning on failing her again.

Naruto sat down onto a seat and took a deep breath and sighed in defeat. Everything was falling apart. It was official. He had a gut feeling that they were going to lose the war. Now as Naruto looked over his resources and looked over what he had at his disposal, he started to lose trust in his Zetsu army. The Version II's that started coming in from Kawa no Kuni started taking up too much space and started making the battles more chaotic and hard to maneuver about in. Naruto was also starting to question the now, talkative and emotional Zetsu clones.

Naruto sighed and glared down to the war map on his table and saw how many pieces of both nations were left standing. The white pieces with green stripes represented Konoha's Zetsu armies and the white pieces with red stripes represented Iwa's Zetsu armies, while the Green and Red pieces represented what was left of the Konoha and Uzu shinobi armies and the Black pieces represented the full army of Iwagakure. It surprised him to see how many Iwa still had at their disposal. Naruto wasn't entirely surprised. After Kumogakure's invasion of Konoha, and the mass desertion of Uzu shinobi and samurai, the triumvirate or what was left of it, was falling apart and running low on manpower.

Naruto sighed in defeat and rested his head in his sweaty palms. But then he quickly looked up to a clock hanging and found that it was now midnight. He reached over and grabbed a scroll and began to write up the annual letter to Kaede. So far it's been four years since the war had begun and Naruto was now twenty-four. It was hard to believe really. For three years, he celebrated his birthday without his twin sister next to him blowing out the annual candles, just like they had for twenty-one years.

He sighed and continued to write, letting the girl in on the gruesome details of his fourth year on the battlefield. And so far, everything to him wasn't as bad as it could have been. With the Unabara now finally siding with the Uzumaki and ending the strife in the East, Unabara men and women along with whatever was left of their forces, was moving into the mainland to aid the fronts and the colonies and form another battle line along the border of Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni.

The Unabara were going to be a great help, especially with their clan swordsmen and the seven shinobi swordsmen of the mist aiding them in the fight. Naruto smiled at the luck he had. For a good while, the boy felt that they were going to lose the war. But also, another boon, the forces that reinforced him from Konoha weren't as bad as he thought. They actually became good friends with him, but Naruto of course was still wary of them. Kurama wouldn't lie to him. Naruto still kept them under a watchful eye and had the Version II clones that now, made up his clone army; watch them carefully, from a distance or from up close on the battlefield.

Naruto smiled to himself and finished his letter and rolled up the scroll. Speeding through a few hand seals and placing his palm on the scroll, seals shot out from his palm and wrapped around the scroll and after a blast of chakra, the scroll was sucked into the seal and sent all to way to Kaede's grave, back in the graveyard in Konoha. Stretching slightly, the boy stood from his seat and walked out of the tent and headed for the messenger tower of their base.

Once there he reached into the messenger hawk cage and grabbed a scroll from a messenger hawk from Uzushiogakure. It had the seal of Seiji made from solidified wax. Naruto smiled softly and took the paper from the cage and snapped it open expecting some extravagant letter or even a letter filled with another letter or hell, even some seals that had letters asking for money.

But what Naruto got, wasn't what he expected.

Once he snapped the seal, blood dripped from the enclosed paper. Naruto's eyes shot wide with fear. Naruto looked around and motioned for a Yamanaka and one of the Nara standing by to wipe the letter clean of the blood and help him decipher what was being said. After a few minutes of frantic working and deciphering, since whatever was on the letter was most likely of high importance, the Nara and the Yamanaka with the help of Naruto and a few others, they were able to find that the letter was a blood covered code.

The code looked like jumped kanji with hiragana and katakana which made the letter look extremely confusing. Naruto left the building and paced nervously in the command tent with the other commanders and the Kogane Kishi sitting around him in the tent. All of them had worried looks on their faces and sat in wonder. But all eyes were laid on the Uzumaki commanders. In a move of retaliation, the Konoha and Unabara shinobi imprisoned every Uzumaki clansman in the camp and had the Uzu shinobi held at blade point.

Naruto waited for nearly half an hour with men and women of his army getting nervous. Men and women were shouting at each other as they tried to keep the Uzu men and women still and silent, but they continued to try and defend themselves. Naruto tried to defend his people but was immediately shut off by Sasuke as he seemed to be taking control of the army.

"Sasuke. What the hell?"

"Shut it Naruto." Sasuke growled. "It is obvious that you are no longer able to lead this army with the fact that you've spent all of your time fighting the Lava Princess and letting so many of your men die in your fights."

"What are you trying to say?" Naruto growled.

"I am in control now Naruto." Sasuke replied flaring his sharingan. "The Kogane Kishi and I voted on a new change of leadership. Especially since this war is dragging on for too long. We should have won the fight a year ago, but look at us."

"It's-"

"Now look at what's happening." Sasuke said. "The Uzumaki can't be trusted, and until you can deal with this problem efficiently, then you are officially removed from command of the Kogane Kishi and the entire attack force."

"You can't do this." Naruto flared some of Kurama's chakra, but Sasuke lifted a scroll and handed it to Naruto.

"What is this…?" Naruto unraveled the scroll and read over its contents and found that it was a royal order from his father saying indeed, that Naruto was relieved from command for the time being. Naruto narrowed his eyes and found that his father's signature was there, and it was impossible to forge, showing that it was indeed from his father. Naruto clenched his fists and nearly ripped the scroll in half.

"It's not forever Naruto." Sasuke gave Naruto a small smile before deactivating his sharingan. "I'll lead our forces to victory. By the end of this fiasco, you'll be back in power-"

"Naruto-sama!" The Yamanaka came charging through the camp and made his way through the large group of imprisoned Uzumaki and Uzu shinobi. He panted for a few minutes, but then handed Naruto the letter, fully deciphered and easy to read.

"I-It says…" Naruto looked in confusion. Naruto dropped the letter and collapsed onto the ground and looked down at the ground. Sasuke quickly caught the letter before it touched the dirt.

"It says…that the Uzumaki couldn't be trusted…" Sasuke looked to Naruto and then looked to the Zetsu and Samurai. "Anyone from any of the territories but the North and the Colonies are to die."

_-In Uzushiogakure…_

Screams were echoing in the burning city. Explosions shook the capital of the Land of Whirlpools. People were getting cut down left and right as the revolution went into full swing. But amidst the chaos that ensued, there was a man dragging himself into the ruined halls of the former Uzumaki clan. At the gates, the guards were nailed into the wall by Kunai and swords. Blood stained the floor and the paved roads of the Uzumaki half of the village.

Men, women and children of varying ages, littered the courtyard of the grand compound. The man shook off the sight and continued to drag himself through the compound, using the floors slick with blood, as a propellant. He made great distance and entered into the broken down doors of the main house, only to find overturned furniture and broken walls and more murdered Uzumaki. The man continued to drag himself forward and step by step, pulled himself up over the stairs and towards the second floor to his room.

Screams, ravaged furniture and violated relics were echoing throughout the empty halls. The smell of blood was great and made the man throw up a few times on his journey. The man thankfully was an Uzumaki, or else he would have died hours ago. He looked back to see that he was missing a leg and part of his torso was slashed open.

"Damn that man…"

_Flashback…three hours ago…_

"Welcome!" Iwane called out to the attenders of the wedding.

The Throne Room of the Uzukage Tower was draped with blood red and cerulean/violet curtains. The red curtains held the Uzumaki sigil while the other held the Unabara curtain. Looking throughout the room, Iwane sighed at his work. For almost an entire month, Seiji had poured money and time getting the wedding to be as best as he could. It was the grandest wedding ever seen in the entire shinobi world. A large table filled with foods native to both countries were placed with lighting giving the entire room and exciting vibe.

The people present were sadly not as many as Seiji as hoped, given the fact that many of his Uzumaki lords betrayed him. But, Iwane and the Northern Uzumaki and the Unabara head family were present and took up at least three quarters of the room. Seiji was slightly disappointed that his uncle wasn't home, but left alone for another time. The Uzukage looked over to his left and smiled at Hiruka whom of which had taken the seat next to him.

She was dressed in a traditional kimono with a blood red obi to represent the Uzumaki clan. Her kimono was a sea green to represent the Unabara clan that she was born into. She smiled softly at her longtime lover and gave him knowing glances which most were obvious of what they meant. She wanted the ceremony to end as soon as possible so they can move on to the more…exciting bedding ceremony. Her face was red with a blush when Seiji began to get the message.

The room was filled with conversation as men and women of the North and the Unabara began to drink their sake and wines before the celebration begins. Uzumaki guards were stationed all over the throne room with Uzumaki samurai at the higher stands to watch over anyone that could be a possible traitor. Seiji wished that the Senju and Naruto could have left the fronts to join and enjoy the wedding with him, but Minato had a thing against parties since the incident four years ago.

Iwane bowed to the various guests and soldiers walking into the Throne Room. But what really caught his attention was the Southern and Eastern Uzumaki walking towards the door. They all carried gifts that normally meant apologies. The heads of fish tied around each other using straw picked from the most dangerous whirlpool of the mainland. How they got it, Iwane had no idea, but the man didn't think much of it and nodded to them as they walked into the Throne Room with their cloaks waving with each step. But Iwane quickly regretted letting them in. The air of arrogance and ignorance was palpable as each clansman walked past him.

"Seiji-sama." Shigeko bowed to the Uzukage.

Next to him stood Hideo and Kisho of the East with the gifts of apology. They both walked forward and placed the gifts at Seiji's feet and joined Shigeko and bowed to the Kage. The clansmen behind them walked ahead and placed their gifts as well and joined in the bowing, but went lower than the Lords.

"Please, accept these gifts of apology." Hideo said. "We acted like children when we should have respected your choice of action."

"As our leader, we have no right to question you or your tactical decisions." Kisho added. "If this was the only way to end the fighting and bring peace to both of our nations, then we will stand by your choice."

'The Eastern and Southern Uzumaki aren't known for being apologetic…' Iwane narrowed his eyes trying to find the ulterior motive. 'They are more prideful than Toshi…and that's saying something.'

The tension in the room was remarkable. Seiji sat with his hand scratching his chin softly as he contemplated the words being said. He didn't know if he should believe it or not, but what the heck. It's his wedding and he was going to bring peace to two different nations in the process. What better thing could happen? So why shouldn't he accept their apology. After a few seconds of thought, Seiji nodded his head and motioned for the lords and their men to take seats among the crowd.

"So I heard you were on the _Mizukami_…" A Unabara asked one of the Uzumaki present. The target of the question was a beautiful black haired girl with violet eyes. She wore a red kimono that happened to reveal quite a bit to the Unabara.

"Oh yeah! Of course I was!" The clanswoman replied. "It was one hell of ship y'know."

"No kidding." The Unabara laughed. "Nearly killed me a few times. I was on the _Fiery Mist_. Surely you remember that."

"How could I forget?!" The woman laughed. Soon enough a few other Unabara and Uzumaki laughed and conversed about their accomplishments. "That ship put up one hell of a fight, remember that guys?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Definitely!"

"So how'd the ship go down?" Another Unabara asked.

"We took a broadside from one of your turtle ships." The girl replied with a small frown. "That was one hell of a hit, had me unconscious for a week!"

And with that, the table burst into laughter. Seiji smiled at the interactions between his people and Hiruka's. It was like a dream come true, to see two mortal enemies feasting together in peace. Even though most of their conversations were about how they almost killed each other, it was still a wondrous sight to behold. If only the other nations could do this. Suddenly, the door opened and in walked a man clad in cerulean/violet battle armor with a navy blue cape waving off of his back. His hair was a spikey black and had two bangs framing his face. Next to him stood a tough looking redhead wearing a simple red kimono with a black sash.

"Shunji!"

"Junichi!"

"Imōto/Otōto!" The two ran forward and embraced their younger siblings in tight hugs and shook hands with the other.

"Where have you two been?" Seiji asked with a small smile.

"We were having a quick spar before we came here." Junichi smirked. "Sorry if we smell like shit."

"It's ok…" Hiruka laughed. "You two look nice, but Nii-san. Couldn't you have chosen to wear something not so…menacing?"

"No. I couldn't." Shunji simply replied. "I feel more comfortable wearing this."

"Doesn't matter." Seiji laughed. "With the entire party present minus my uncle Toshi, I think we should start the ceremony!"

_Half an hour later…_

Seiji and Hiruka had just finished completing their vows and consummating the marriage with a passionate kiss, bringing out a loud chorus of whistles and hoots and hollers. People clapped loudly but then it was at that moment that Shunji realized that Hiruka and Seiji had been seeing each other longer than what they originally let on. Shunji stifled a laugh as he realized that he'd been played into allowing this so they could live their love in public.

'Oh little sister.' Shunji laughed. 'You've grown so much…'

Then the cheers died out and music began to play. The newlyweds sat behind the large table at the head of the room with Shunji next to Hiruka and Junichi next to Seiji. They watched as Uzumaki and Unabara danced and played wedding games in the center of the Throne Room. The people laughed and danced as the music played louder and louder. But with their attention on the festivities in front of them, the four at the head of the room failed to take notice of the Uzu ANBU taking position behind them.

Iwane noticed it, but didn't do anything, thinking that he was hallucinating. But then, the door burst open to reveal Toshi wearing his armor, but it was a black, more menacing version. At his sides were Uzumaki of the Western Islands. At Toshi's right stood Naizen holding a basket filled with fish heads and reeds. They entered slowly and walked past the Unabara and Northern Uzumaki without looking in their directions.

Naizen walked forward and placed the basket at Seiji's feet, surprising the Uzukage at the apology. A small hopeful smile formed on the young man's face as he felt that he was finally reaching out and unifying the Uzumaki Lords under his command once more. But then Toshi walked up to Seiji and gave the young boy a pat on the shoulder.

"It's good to see you boy." Toshi smiled and ruffled Seiji's hair.

"It's good to see that you finally brought the Westerners to the fold." Seiji smiled back.

"Thank you Seiji." Toshi smiled. The man turned and headed for an empty seat but stopped mid-step. Shunji was immediately cautious. He looked over to Junichi and made a subtle nod. Toshi quickly turned back around and moved toward the now standing Uzukage. "I forgot something. Here!"

Toshi grabbed Seiji and pulled him closer and rammed a tanto knife through his chest and threw him back into his seat. Shunji shot from his seat as did Junichi, but the ANBU that followed Toshi, dashed forward and grabbed their faces and drew out their knives and slashed their throats out. Hiruka screamed, but was stabbed through the chair from the back by a katana oozing with wind chakra.

Behind Toshi, the other Lords that asked for forgiveness sprang into action and began to cut down Northern Uzumaki and Unabara. From the stands above the Throne Room, the samurai emplaced began to fire arrows onto the Northern Uzumaki and Unabara, making the rebellion's work a lot easier. Men and women were slashed open as the massacre continued. The blue and red curtains were lit ablaze as the remaining guests were cut open.

"U-Uncle…" Seiji was sitting with a blank expression on his face. "W-Why…"

"It's because you failed to take the power I gave to you and use it to destroy the Unabara. Instead, you chose to fuck the Unabara." Toshi sighed and tore the tanto knife from his nephew's chest, making it as painful as possible. "You were strong and ambitious at the start of your reign, but as time continued, you failed me time and time again. The killing of your men is just the first step into dominating the ocean."

An arrow shot down and entered the head of the dead body of Junichi and another went through Shunji's eye. Seiji was suddenly pelted with arrows when the samurai at the stands realized that the Kage was still alive and talking. Toshi smiled softly though. He watched as Seiji's eyes dilated signifying his death. An Uzumaki through and through. Took too long to die for Toshi's taste.

He sighed and turned around and walked through the corpse covered Throne Room and motioned for one of the samurai in the stands to signal the attack. With the last of the Uzumaki and Unabara disposed of in the Throne Room, the entire rebel force exfilled and moved to take the city. But what they failed to check was the single legged body of Uzumaki Iwane.

During his fight, one of the Westerners, swung low and parried his block and in turn slashed through his leg. Iwane was slowly bleeding out, but thanks to his Uzumaki blood, he wasn't going to die any time soon. So with what he could make due with, he crawled off and dragged himself, using the bloody stone floor and pulled himself up to one of the tables. He pushed over a mutilated Unabara and found a bloody napkin and began to use his chakra to burn in a secret code that he devised onto the napkin.

After finishing what he had to say, he sped through a few hand seals and slammed his palm onto the tabletop. After a small pop was heard, it came to reveal a messenger hawk with a compartment to hold letters and scrolls attached to its leg. Iwane strapped the letter to the bird and motioned for it to go and ordered it to go to Naruto. The bird nodded its head and shot off for the open top of the Throne Room and flew off into the night sky of the Land of Whirlpools.

Iwane knew that he needed to get a better message off to his children in the colonies. So with little chakra in his system, he used his strength to try and get him to the Uzumaki compound that was most likely hit. There was a sudden explosion that shook the entire Throne Room. Iwane turned over and shut his eyes and a large piece of wood fell from the ceiling.

_Flashback over…_

"Goddamn it…I need to let Hiro know…" Iwane grunted as he continued to drag himself forward through the second floor of the compound. With his blood levels getting dangerously low, he knew that there wouldn't be enough Uzumaki blood in his system to keep him alive any longer.

"I need to let him know…that Toshi has betrayed us…"

* * *

**So here is the end of the chapter! **

**I know that the time build up is slightly weird and I am deeply sorry for the confusion, but the time between this chapter and the previous is a year, but the time span of the previous chapter was about seven months after the annual letter to Kaede, so add in another year from that point, the time span is actually a year and seven months. Make sense? So yes, Naruto is now twenty-four and Mito and Arashi, though not important yet, they are about seven years old.**

** So, the Uzumaki break out in civil war? Naruto is out of command for the time being, so what will happen to the war? What will happen to the hundreds of innocent Uzumaki on the mainland fighting for the Grand Triumvirate, or what's left of it? What will Hiro do when word reaches the Colonies? What was Minato thinking, taking Naruto out of command? What will happen now that Kurotsuchi is pregnant? Will they survive? Find out next chapter!**

**Ja ne!**

**gottahavekyuubi**


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